Fridu - what a week!
- melanieschmoll1
- 8. Mai
- 3 Min. Lesezeit
Federal Chancellor election, Pope election, 80 years of the end of the Second World War in Europe - simply unbelievable.
The attentive reader will have noticed that the blog entry deviates from my usual rhythm for a few days. This is simply because I made my way to Canada last weekend - my third attempt this year, but thanks to illness and the Verdi strike, it didn't work out in January and March. This time, however, I still arrived in Calgary despite a one-hour delay on my departure flight from Hamburg to Munich. And even my luggage made it to the aircraft with only minutes to spare. I was super relieved!
And so much has happened here on site in the last few days that I will report on it next week when I can sort out my thoughts during the nine-hour flight home.
I don't really know where to start. My enthusiasm for our Basic Law and my respect for its mothers and fathers have increased once again. When we saw this week that for the first time in the history of the Federal Republic of Germany a chancellor was not successful in the first round of voting, the Basic Law could be relied upon. 76 years after it came into force and without anyone expecting it to be applied, it was once again clear how incredibly clever and far-sighted the drafters were at the time. After so many decades, there is a novelty in our history and lo and behold: the Basic Law has the answer. Isn't that incredible?
The members and lawyers of the Bundestag were less prepared than the authors of our Basic Law 76 years ago. And how wonderful that the President of the Bundestag was able to hold the original copy of this masterpiece in her gloved hands. And how wonderful that the oath of office - regardless of whether a man thinks the candidate is the right one or not - still sounds just as moving. I can hardly calm down about these great political moments. How exciting and wonderful democracy is. How can you not be enthusiastic about it?
And I feel very similar when I look at the papal election. I grew up in a Protestant household and don't really have anything to do with Catholicism or the church. But - how remarkable is it that in our technology-based world, in which AI almost sends us to brush our teeth, smoke signals are observed and millennia-old rituals are used? Isn't that just wonderful? That some things just stay the way they've always been? And then the Sistine Chapel! How can you not have the feeling that you've been inspired during the election? Whether the Holy Spirit makes an appearance or not - I can understand the rapture.
And then today... May 08, 2025, 80 years after the end of the Second World War. I'm actually a little speechless about the date.
I've already commented on the Second World War in my blog posts When dawn broke on June 6, 1944… and 85 years later. last year, but today - that's something else. So many clever minds have already commented on what peace is: the absence of war, a legal form, a positive or negative state... I don't want to take part in this at all (although as a historian and political scientist I would have a lot to say about it!) I would simply like to end with this:
Frieden, from the old German word fridu:
sparing or friendship; a wholesome state of stillness and tranquillity, since the 8th century: peace, peacefulness, tranquillity, peace (agreement), protection, care, security, assistance, favor, salvation, happiness, well-being. –
What a word, what a state.
