What a cup of coffee can do...
What a cup of coffee can do...
Monday, 16 January 2023
Hello from inside Germany,
Do you sometimes have this feeling that the way things are right now is the best it can be? I do have it from time to time (admittedly, not very often). Most likely early in the morning. When the calm of the day that has not yet begun gives you the chance to look at the essentials.
The last time I felt that way was on Saturday, sitting in my favourite hang-around shop (I guess, as for me, a cup of good coffee is significant for such a positive feeling).
I looked around the store (it's a delicatessen), seeing all the delicious products from all over the world (Germany's imports of goods and services as a percentage of its GDP is more than 40 per cent!). I was delighted to have access to all these wonderful products.
I was also happy to sit in a warm, brightly lit room (within a year, Germany managed to become completely independent of Russian energy sources).
Then I had to think of how important it is to live in a country where if you get sick, you can hope to get well. (Germany ranks 17th among the world's best healthcare systems).
And I was grateful for living in a country that has been at peace for more than 75 years. Longer than ever before in its history (the longest phases without armed conflicts were in the 19th century: after the Napoleonic Wars, peace prevailed for around 33 years until the revolutions of 1848 and more than 40 years before the First World War).
But I not only realized that there is so much to be happy about, but also that there is a lot we can do to lay the foundations over and over again for such good lives.
Let’s do it.
Onwards,
The Strolling Economist
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