The day before i flew back to Denmark i had Florian Murnig and Matthias Woitzuck, two of my team members at Boreal, who are on the ‘Art of climbing’ Tour through Germany right now, visiting me to go out and film and climb a bit on the classic boulder problems where i started climbing a 15 years ago. It were two wonderful days and great to show them around. It’s now where i’m not spending much time in Cologne anymore always a nice journey back to my own roots and i’m more than happy to show that.

It reminded me on how i came to something that was driven with all my passion for quite some years and that affected me in many ways on how i am today. It is a special perspective to see the world and it reminded me to stay open for new things, but at the same time not to forget where you come from. In many ways society is driven by this two poles as well as our own creativity and passions. The innovation (aka looking in the future) and the history (aka our past). Society need s both poles and while the history is providing the base and the identity, the innovation is responsible that it goes further, that we adapt to needs and different circumstances. What is an interesting thought when it comes to NGO programs or big adaption programs from outside experts. We have to keep the identity and history in mind, when we want to create a sustainable future. When now the talking about programs for building up Haiti and creating a sustainable future are starting, we should listen to the Haitians, talk to experts like Jean-Marie Theodat and others that could give a deeper insight in the history and culture to really understand where the need are, not only on a technical or supply side, but also the needs that come out of the culture and history. To not forget that needs are not the same everywhere. It seems to be obvious when i write about it, but it is too often forgotten in a fast paced world, where we can see tendencies everywhere that everything is getting equal in what goods, companies and trends we have access to.

Think about yourself. Where is your history influencing your passions and your development? And how would it be without your history? If you would start from scratch, with the Beginner’s mind that in buddism is a big concept? And is that possible?