Sometimes you have to open up to your
history in order to give others an
understanding of your personal point of view
[POV]

Sometimes you have to….

I was asked a question to my comment to a post by Jason Khoo at LinkedIn, that reminded me of that my POV might not match the common understanding of how a Dane thinks and acts – especially not in this era of a world “ruled” by social media and “Fake News”.

Denmark is build on a democracy founded in our constitution. Sometimes the Danes forget that both our constitution and our democracy is unique compared to other countries even within Europe.

I grew up in the 1960s in Jutland, the northern part of Denmark in a culture, that some might judge as “brutal/ honest” – emotions were not shown that much and results was shown through actions, not verbal. A verbal “Yes” or a handshake was equal an emotional commitment much stronger than any written agreement. It was also a culture where you were taught to respect the local way of living in the event you went abroad, so I have for instance spent may hours in a Synagogue despite being a kind of atheist.

During these days the major part of the Danish culture was build/ maintained through a membership of an organization (scout/ sport/ religious/ political) built, managed and operated by voluntary leaders and financially supported by public founds and activities like lottery or arranging public events.

The political system in Denmark were initially built on memberships. Through your membership you supported the party with finances, but you also had an influence as you participated in local meetings to discuss the political agenda within the party. The outcome was a trust in the local communities in the people representing the party and the ones being elected for the parliament.

This engagement also secured that the supporters would show up at an election and through their engagement try to motivate non-members to vote – or at least understand why they had the obligation to
vote.

During the 1960s the economy in Denmark got stronger, so the whole society experienced a growth in wealth. One outcome was building two new universities (a double up) hereof one in the city where I was born. Another outcome was the growth allowed a family to buy their own house in the suburban area or on the country side.

analyse information and later at college also to be critical to the intentions behind an information like an add, news, articles and so forth. Maybe this was an outcome of the tensions between East and West during the 1960s and being the country controlling the sea traffic to the East Sea – we were “bombed” with propaganda from the former East Europe.

Grandfather was a communist and had to escape to Sweden during the German occupation of Denmark in World War II – a period we never talked about in my family. Communism is based on a theory of that a revolution is required in order to level the society, which did conflict with the Danish belief system founded by our constitution. Anyway as the Russians went in to Budapest in 1956 my grandfather terminated his membership of the Danish Communist Party and together with other former members of the resistance army founded “Socialistisk Folkeparti” (a left-wing party between Labour and Communism), got elected at the following national election as a member of the parliament until he died in 1970.

My father was the son of an independent business owner, that obviously should have voted for a party representing his profession, but he turned out to vote for “Socialdemokratiet” – the Danish Labour Party – as he believed, that when the employees had good conditions, then he would have a healthy business. My father continued as a loyal member of this party despite some experiences related to politicians forgetting where they came from.

During my youth the political relation started on the far left wing, but travelling to Hungary in 1975 opened my eyes, when it comes to humans and the difference between theory and praxis.

As you might conclude by now then I grew up in a family, where politics were discussed, especially when it comes to the belief systems (Party book) and ethics.

When I turned 18 and was able to vote, I had a girlfriend, whose mother was a member of the Danish parliament representing a party on the right wing – we had some inspirational discussions during this period of my life.

During the 1980s the growth in the Danish economy introduced a “hidden” change to our culture. The sport clubs were allowed to employ coaches, players and service people, which lead to some challenging times for many clubs due to the differences in the priorities when managing a voluntary versus a professional organization.

Officially there is no bribing in the Danish political system, however I believe this depends on the definition. Where I grew up we had a saying: “The politician lost the connection to the ground” when a politician suddenly used his/her position to gain some personal benefits, like upgrading the house, sponsored family travels or getting access to an attractive flat with the right location in the city centre.

At some point the political environment in Denmark started selling out the national assets within infrastructure, i.e. railway, telecommunication, power grid and healthcare. The main argument was to save money, i.e. reduce the taxation. The interesting part here is that despite some public dis-agreement to these actions almost every politician during these periods got re-elected.

In my opinion that inspired the politicians to see a position in the parliament as a future career path rather than being on a mission for your country. The history has shown, that politicians can be re-elected representing one party and then on the same evening as their seat is confirmed announce that they change political relation, i.e. from a right-wing to a leƠ-wing party.

The generation of my grandparents would not have accepted such a shiƠ no matter side. I guess this is why I am challenged when it comes to established politicians independent of their political party.
My natural curiosity inspires me to dive in to the history of the countries I visit. I am fully aware of that politics are not discussed openly in some countries and that in some cultures, you avoid discussing politics with your friends as in the event of a disagreement, then you “have” to terminate the friendship. I am also aware of that the Danish culture sometimes collide with the culture abroad, especially when it comes to speaking out your beliefs.

Having this background I find that our global community are starting to understand the responsibility each of us has in order to create a better world for our next generations.

We are in the need of leaders who walk as they talk are open for sharing experiences to the benefit of the global community are strong enough to operate within the grey zone between acting responsibly on behalf of the country and acting responsibly on behalf of our future generations will limit the production and usage of items polluting our environment with unnecessary waste understand that the infrastructure has to be owned by the people in order to secure stability .

I have a dream that one day humans on Mother Earth are capable for living together in mutual respect despite language and nationality.