One year ago, WHO declared that Covid-19 was a pandemic. Since then, much has been experienced, written, and done. There have been tales of personal loss, loneliness and grief and much social unrest. But there have also been tales of people reinventing themselves in beautiful ways.
The past year has been unprecedented. Trains, planes and cars stopped. Cities that never sleep became ghost towns. Photos of Pope Francis blessing an empty
urbi and a virtual
orbi symbolised the desolation that people felt around the world. Everyone experienced some type of forced confinement.
Freeing up our imagination
On the other hand, being forced to spend several weeks within four walls sets the imagination free. Four walls remind us of famous prisoners and their testimony of profound freedom. Let’s have a look at two examples, one fictional, the other real.
Author Archives: Augusto Silberstein
Augusto Silberstein is enthusiastically celebrating the 700th anniversary of the passing of Dante Alighieri because Augusto exists thanks to the Italian language founded by Dante. His grandfather a Jew born in Vienna was able to escape the Nazis because he pretended to be Italian. Thanks to this spectacular escape, his grandfather was able to restart life in Brazil where Augusto was born.
He studied Public Administration and worked several years as a business consultant for the automotive industry. Switching interest to the service sector he became Msc. in Operations & Logistics with a thesis on lean thinking applied to the health services . He now lives in Germany and is focused on another type of service: education. He is co-founder of the Gap.Cologne Initiative that strives to give high school students a humanistic preparation for their university years.