Public space is our place

#279

My Dear Friend of Democracy,

A storm fells a tree in the small park in Berlin, Germany, where I regularly jog. Early in the morning, it lies on the path. The next day, the tree is sawn up, and the path is clear again.

A story I very like.

But such stories are rarely told. At least not in the digital world. Usually, only people who are upset post. And even if they did, the algorithm would swallow their positive message.

Kindness is not a digital currency.

But we need more kindness. More stories of success. Not least about public administration. Otherwise, everything will be bad-mouthed and belittled; everything will be chopped up and abolished because it has become fashionable to blame the state for pretty much everything that doesn't work in our society.

Why do so many people do this? Blaming the state. Because then they can shift the responsibility onto others. They think they can evade their responsibility. Plus there is a political reason for doing so. One can currently score political points by portraying the state as too bloated and superfluous.

They might do this until it’s too late. Until we realise that no one is left to preserve and develop the park and our society.

✊ Let us value public spaces. Let us help to make them good places. And let us give the state the means to make public space a place worth living in for everyone.

See you in Democracy,

Johannes