The real crime - and the truth about love

I will probably never get some people, because they really seem to live under a rock. They see things I simply have no words for. Then I wonder: do they really live in the same time as I do? I mean they have the same chances as we have, they are not poor, that can't be the reason why they act how they do it. And I don't want to say that everyone who lives in that country is like that. I guess there are also people who live in the 21st century. It's also nothing against the country itself, I mean I have never been there so far, but my mom's cousin lived there for some years and liked it there. And I have met people coming from that country who are nice and friendly and proved me that not everyone is like that.

don't be in denial - picture taken from freedomsphoenix

I mean it's maybe the same with the Iraq or Iran. I guess not all people there want to fight, to make war. I believe that there also live nice people, who simply wanna live and maybe even suffer from the people who give the whole world such a bad picture of their country. No one can say, he is from there or like this or that, so I can't like him or her. I would never say I can't like anybody because of his religion or citizenship or anything else. And in my mind, no one can do that.

So my question to these guys is: what is actual crime? What is your definition of that? Is a person who has another point of view on something already an evil person? Is it wrong when someone likes other things, prefers something else? Of course not - in my mind is this the only right answer. People are equal, no matter what they like, how they look like or how they behave. As long as they don't harm anyone in any way, it all should be okay. Everyone should be treaten equally. I mean, wouldn't it be boring if everyone would be exactly the same? Like from the same line production?

'Oh this human being is from the XYZ-series from the year 2012. They all look the same, have the same abilities and features.'

So why should it be a crime to accept and respect a person for who he or she is? I guess we have all developed in the past years. No one wants to live with stereotypes, because not two persons are 100% the same. Everyone is unique in his or her own way. And we should respect that. So why should it be a crime to talk about love? Is there only one definition of it, the one that these guys created? I'd like to ask them, if they think love is between a man and a woman and anything else is not real, is even 'evil'?
So let's go back to the beginning of this post: do they live under a rock? Probably they sit there, in their own, self-created world. And they see things, and everyone has to see it the same way and they can't understand why everyone should disagree with them.

But no one can be judged for what, and who he/she is. No one has the right to do that. That's why I don't judge these guys, just ask them what makes they think like that. Everyone wants to be free and being free in every decision also includes love. To not allow people to talk about all parts of love, is discrimination - and there is the real 'crime' hidden. People need to be free, free to talk about what they feel and free about to love. So when someone says that the people of a country should accept and respect the gays, how can someone say that's a crime? As I wrote above, I think not everyone in this country is like this, but to the people who are, is my question: isn't there real crime out there? In which century do you live? Probably still in the stone age, just under a heavy rock.

Form a unit

Today is in Germany the 'Tag der Deutschen Einheit', which means 'Day of the German Unity', the national holiday. It's a big and important day, because the two parts of Germany came back together after so many years. When in 1989 the Berlin Wall opened, many people from the East came to the West and vice versa. It was a touching moment, and though I was only one year old when that happened, I saw so often the scenes afterwards on TV.

I also saw when the Wall was built, and the politician Walter Ulbricht said, that no one had the intention to build a wall. But it was built. It was like you opened a window and saw your neighbors and one day later you could only see bricks. Maybe your mother lived across the street, but you couldn't visit her because of the wall that covered the entire road. I mean it wasn't easy back then, and I am happy that I live now.

The future's in the air, I can feel it everywhere, 

Blowing with the wind of change

from the song 'Wind of Change' by the Scorpions 

Some parts of the Wall still stand in Berlin as a memory, and in some souvenir shops there you can buy parts of the wall. It's interesting because you can still feel all the history that is in this city. You can still visit Checkpoint Charlie, some things didn't change. It has all the charm from the past, the future and the here and now. So if you want to visit Germany, make sure you won't miss Berlin.

Forming a unit, being back together. That's what the Germans celebrate today. Being separated led to many differences, as the Eastern part couldn't do that much, and hadn't got as much as the Western part like food or possibilities to choose where to go on vacation. So the differences grew bigger, and it was like two different countries. But in their hearts they were still together. Maybe no one would have admitted that, but you noticed that it was true when the Wall opened.

So when someone tries to be more special it will mostly lead into nowhere. Everyone is special, but we all belong together, also in the world. War is never the right solution. We all want to live, we all want to interact with other human beings in a kind way. We all want to be respected for who and how we are. No one is better, no one is worse. Let's stop the war, and form a unit. That's what I hope for the whole world. That one day people will stop fighting, and appreciate the special gift of life.

Here is the song, which is the song of the German Unity, 'Wind of Change' by the Scorpions.

Everything can be repaired

I don’t know how it is in America but in Germany we have lots of graffiti on so many walls and buildings. They’re mostly in the bigger cities like Berlin, but you can also see some in Karlsruhe – which is also big but not like the German capital. Some guys say the graffiti’s ugly, that it ruins everything. But there are also people who actually like it. They see it as art.

Some use the painting to show what they think. This can be about something political or a picture of a star or whatever. Sometimes it’s only a word, or an expression. These artists don’t see themselves as destroyers, they have to say something and see this as the only way to be heard/seen. You can’t miss the graffiti when it’s near a station, lots of people go to work by train every day. The more often they see it, the more they think about it. If they like it or not doesn’t matter, as long as they think about it. When there’s a discussion about graffiti on TV, they get more attention, more people to see their work. And like every artist, they’re proud of that.

But there are also some guys who do this only to provoke other people. To write bad things about someone or want to blame someone for something. This is a misuse of the graffiti and the real artists don’t want to get in touch with them. Those graffitis get more and more and maybe that’s why some people think graffiti destroys everything. Then people like Irmela Mensah-Schramm are asked. She is a freelancer and gave herself the job to clean the public places. When she sees some graffiti or carved words on a bench, she does everything to clean it. Unbelievable that she got in trouble with the police not just once because of this. For destroying! Unbelievable, isn’t it? So what do the people want? They don’t want anything with some words and graphics on, but they also don’t want someone to clean it for free.

I really like the sentence she once said in a video I watched about her:

Everything can be repaired, except the hurt human dignity.

So she is against these people who want to blame others, who really destroy things. It’s not on what they write, but what they write and how they write it. That’s a difference. So by cleaning the benches and walls and fences, less people can see and be hurt because of what’s written. I appreciate that Mensah-Schramm takes her time and does that cleaning. Before I found that German video coincidentally I did’t know that there are people who actually do this – and without being paid. This is another video I found about her, because of its English subtitles I chose that one to post here. But the other video can also be found on youtube. Just ask me when you want the link.

How do you think about it? Do you like graffiti? What do you think about Irmela Mensah-Schramm?