Who we meet

How does it come about that we meet the people we do? It always amazes me when I look around me and I see all the people who are in my life. Although these people often have no idea, they influence me in the things I do. I usually do not ask for their help explicitly, but even so they come through for me.

In meeting different people my life has taken different directions, most of these directions would never have been imagined by me. These people have each in their own way helped to shape my world view. Even if sometimes it was the opposite stance that I have taken.

People have inspired me to do things I would not have done otherwise. Inspired me to learn about the world, follow-up on issues I believe are important. To actually put the effort into learning Spanish and I am certain other languages in the future. I have been inspired to tell people what I think, to talk about what makes me who I am, and to think about what to do.

Not everyone has drastically changed the direction of my life, which is good because otherwise I would be a spinning compass not knowing where to stop. However, everybody has shown me something in a new way. And it certainly is not something that you do consciously, everything is subtle. Can any single person show me the best path? No, but every single person can and will influence my direction in some way. The tiniest influence will be noticed eventually. Being off by a degree does not seem relevant after a centimetre, but after five, ten or one thousand the change can be important.

Every individual has helped me and might continue to help, and for this I thank all of you.