Deutsche Version | Wiki Start | Topics Collection vi

Silence VI - Importance Revisited ...

Saturday, Aug 16, 2014. Congress Centre, Montreal, Canada. With nearly 1000 participants one of the large congresses on “world weather” starts today. At the same time, there is the ICM in Korea, the international congress of mathematicians, with 5000 people attending. Imporant prices are given on these events. Important people are here. Daily we receive new messages about whose achievements we are celebrating today. A good opportunity, to ask deep questions!

The Winner Is …

Sometimes we are given the opportunity to question some developments. That does not happen all the time. When you are in a wave of success, you usually do not question what happens. You just take it for granted. But then, when the wheel turns to others, and you find yourself left to the side a little bit, you might gain a great opportunity here: start to question the overall system. Or perhaps even more: start to question your own attitudes.

But let us go one step back and see a little more of this story! Within our communities, we try to identify what is important. What science ideas are important. What developments, methods, insights or tools are important for what we try to do or to achieve. And then some of these are given prices - we give it to the people who were linked to their development. Is that a good idea or is it not?

I think it is good to try to evaluate what has been achieved, and also to acknowledge important steps or ideas. It seems to be part of our human quest for understanding, to look for the heros and leaders which have gone ahead of us. Indeed, leadership is one of the undispensable parts of social life.

We just often do not understand that a leader is nothing without those, who follow. Leadership is just a service to the community!

We need all the workers, who

know their subject, who know how to use some method, how to apply it, how to move ahead. To me all the people who employ some technique or knowledge are also kind of heros. They hold the whole system. We need those who build the house, not only the star architect, who has some fancy idea. Without the builders, he would be nothing!

All Brothers …

Jesus told his disciples, that HE is the master, but they are all brothers. That is what we need to be: brothers and sisters. It applies to all of us, to those who find something remarkable, and to those who just apply it. It applies to those, who hold the whole system, just by doing their work thorougly. It applies to all those, who make our wealth possible by being reliable and doing their work.

I think that our attitude towards leadership and towards celebrities needs some significant revision. It cannot be the main target within the universities to be acknowledged as the international leader - even if you are. The most important thing is to work on science as something humans do and humans need. It is a part of our social activity. It is important for all of us, for medicine, for survival, for business, for the community! The same applies to politics. The same applies to our cultural world.

Faith can lead us into a healthy attitude towards all these things. God himself is the great creator. He has made so many fascinating things, which we try to understand and live with our science, with our technology, with art and music. He can help us to do things in a wise way. He can fill our mind and our heart, day by day! (Roland Potthast) ... more texts