How do we square humanities' basic needs and the "fun-o-meter"?

Today marks two years since I moved to Munich and there is so much to say about this milestone and this past month. It is doubtful you noticed that my mid-September edition slipped by, but the words started piling up making it too unwieldy for me to make the deadline. If I had to pinpoint two related topics that encapsulated my feelings from my first two years in Germany and this past month, it would be about preserving nature and finding better solutions to move societies.

The concepts of feeding, clothing, and sheltering are basic needs that should be available to all humans in a fair and just manner. In addition, I believe one’s mobility around a community or city should also be a basic need made available in a fair and just manner. The goal therefore is to find a way to meet the demands of the global population’s basic needs with as little impact to nature as possible.

It’s reasonable to say that not every capable person of driving can own a personal vehicle with all its comforts and conveniences. Even at today’s level of car ownership, the amount of resources used to manufacture, park, drive and fuel all the cars on the road seems unfair with so many communities across the world lacking the ability to properly feed, clothe and shelter themselves. I am picking on personal car ownership because I have used immense amounts of resources (money, concrete and fuel) to own a car but have now lived a high quality of life for two years without one.

I started out this past month by visiting the IAA’s public exhibition here in Munich. As one of the world’s largest car shows I got to see the latest Porsche models and the greenwashing efforts the industry is making to achieve a more sustainable mode of transportation. The Porsche 911 is still a beautiful piece of machinery, but I was unmoved by all the talk regarding electric cars. From a mobility standpoint, the focus should not be electric versus internal combustion but simply getting cars off the road and making room for sustainable communities with public transportation. Electric cars are meeting a market demand and that’s fine because the job of a car company is to sell cars. The battle for preserving nature and creating a fair mobility system is not going to be won, or on full display, at a car show.

Two days later as the IAA was still in full swing, I jumped on my bike to participate in my first political rally. An estimated 25,000 of us cycled around Munich jamming up the streets to protest for ideas like the halting of new road construction, more fair distribution of space for pedestrian and cyclists, and more investment into public transportation. The only bullet point I disagreed with was putting a speed limit on the Autobahn. I still want to be able to rent a big Mercedes S-Class and fly down the A95 to Tyrol.

I don’t think I can claim to be a radical for the environment but the evidence is mounting. This was unplanned but you will read shortly that I was in Berlin recently and coincidently Greta Thunberg was also in town. A reported 100,000 of us showed up last Friday to participate in the worldwide Fridays for Future protest. The crazies were there calling for the death of capitalism, but I felt most comfortable among the vast majority who were simply fighting for Mother Nature.

Changing our transit habits and reversing the trends of our excessive consumption (which is another factor of mobility when considering the movement of goods) seems hopeless most of the time. This is especially the case when looking at it from the perspective of a Midwesterner with children. To give up your car in a Midwestern city that has completely inadequate public transportation options and only walkable districts that cater to tourists would be insane. But so is the insanity of living in the middle of an impoverished African community with dirt roads and decrepit modes of transportation. Standing in front of the Reichstag demanding that the people in power act to make changes was a moving experience in itself. Maybe one day we can stop paving over green pastures, carving up the sides of mountains and better utilize the world’s resources for all to live a high quality life.

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In the summer of 2019, I sat with my parents over dinner to let them know about my plans to move to Munich. It was both the easiest conversation and hardest. There was no doubt in my mind that Germany was the place for me to be as I coped with all the uncertainties in life. This seems contrary to what should be done with a shattered heart and major questions looming about one’s career. The comforts of morning coffees at Aixois in Brookside and the close proximity of family and friends should have been the safest setting for me, but I needed a major change to push my life forward.

What made that conversation in the kitchen of my childhood home on Granada Road so difficult was knowing that I was delivering the final blow to having a tidy John, Martha, Cathy and Tommy family nucleus centered around Prairie Village. The bubble of Prairie Village that has served our family so well (maybe too much in my case) was now popped.

After I spoke, I looked immediately at my mother and saw agony cross her face as she quickly imagined having both of her twin children living in distant countries. How though did she react after the wave of emotions passed? With unrelenting love, understanding and support. Only a mother with the utmost confidence in herself and children could have so easily absorbed this news.

My dad on the other hand started squirming in his seat with excitement. He immediately asked about the cost of flights, hotels and if we can go to Vienna.

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Missing my self-imposed September 15th deadline and hitting the publish button late on this October 1st were for good reasons beyond a rambling first draft. The latter happened because I was not going to pass up a Tinder date on the shores of Lake Starnberg this sunny afternoon. The reason for the former was because my own petty desires and projects needed to be put aside for a while to welcome my first visitors to Munich since December 2019. This sudden crush of people into my life threw me for a loop. It’s not that I am completely void of obligations and care for others, but it has become evident my daily routine has its own groove and is centered around me. Gosh that sounds so selfish. But when you don’t have a partner, child, dog or boss, I guess for better or for worse, it’s reality. This mode in life though needed to be shaken up and I was ready to go all-in with showing off Munich and Germany.

It had been nearly a year since being with my parents in Kansas City so when they touched down a couple weeks ago for their first visit to Munich, there was much anticipation. This occurred only days after I ran around town with one of my best pals from childhood. My general rule is to treat visits by friends and family with privacy, but one exception must be my dad.

With our visit to Vienna happening in two weeks, my mom and I are in week three of humoring my dad and keeping his “fun-o-meter” high. This means seeking out proper German sheet music and peering into pipe shops. It includes visiting the local Steinway & Son’s store where he explains to the manager their own piano service procedures and how their own sales are doing in Asia. I certainly benefited from a trip down to Garmisch for a golf game with my dad and a school friend, and my mom did get to see some of movie locations for The Sound of Music in Salzburg while he went to visit Mozart’s birthplace. But each little trip requires us to ensure he has his CDC vaccine card and remind him to stop walking around with his stupid mask on once we exit the subway or store. This is all fun and games until he forgets to go searching for ice to keep my mom’s drinks cold because he is sitting in front of his computer analyzing his own golf swing videos.

I could go on and on but the other side of my dad is his intellectual capacity for philosophy, psychology and theology. During our visit to Berlin last week we saw all the major sites. I loved being back again on the Museuminsel between the newly constructed Berliner Schloß and the stunning Berliner Dom. I look to the east where the Berliner Fernsehnturm soars above Alexanderplatz and to the west stands Brandenburger Tor laying guard to the Tiergarten beyond. The highlight though was going off the beaten path with my dad to Dietrich Bonhoeffer’s home in Charlottenburg. To visit the home of this great theologian and leader of the German resistance to Nazism was a special affair. My dad and I were the only visitors to his home on a sleepy suburban street. The knowledgeable and friendly docent sat down with us and we talked for two hours about Bonhoeffer, Germany, the United States, religion and society in general.

Eventually we made it up to Bonhoeffer’s room on the third floor. The room consisted of not much more than a bed, lamp, shelves lined with books, and a place to write. This moved me the most because it reminded me of my own little abode that does not have much more. I am not nearly the intellectual of Bonhoeffer or even my dad but seeing that room suggests great ideas can surface from simple surroundings. Most days I just need a good night’s rest, my books, something to write with, a dose of exercise, and the relationships with my family, friends and God.