1.
I don’t believe in change anymore
I grow up in a bipolar world. The Iron curtain divided Europe in a western and an eastern part. I lived in the west. We had a high living standard and could go on vacation every year to other part of the country or abroad. East was a country very far away like India or Turkey, the second world. And life was very different at that time.
We all expected a devastating nuclear war somewhere in the middle of the eighties but nothing happened. Suddenly east collapsed. My own country went into the most serious crisis since the 1930s. We went from 1,6 % unemployment to 10 % and the economy shivered.
I feel the need to write something consistent.
– I do not know what this means
Trying to put things together
2. The war
Soon after everything fell down the war started. Not here but there in X
Our country was in a crisis with high unemployment and unbalanced budget. So I went to X in order to help the people there. They were busy fighting a war against themselves.
3. Different narrative
What happened since then, well in contrast from the United States the living standard increased drastically from 1995 until 2016. The disposable income increased with more than 60 % for the average household. Therefore the narrative in Sweden is very different. We have actually had a much better development than rest of Europe especially if you had work during this period. However more and more people even academics are unemployed during their career.
4. The Now and Then
Times move so quickly, I still feel like I am living in the last century. It feels like the Berlin Wall fell a few months ago and not 28 years ago. In fact Berlin has been without a wall for as long as there been a wall to marvel or fear. 1961-1989 is 28 years and 1989-2017 is also 28 years. We thought that the wall was a permanent feature of our world and would not go away in our life time.
Now the physical wound in the city has started to heal. But a lot of time remains before it will be a united city again.
Schibolet 