“When we love, we always strive to become better than we are.
When we strive to become better than we are,
everything around us becomes better too.”

Paulo Coelho, The Alchemist (born 1947 in Rio de Janeiro)

This morning, I took a short walk through a small park near our house in Singapore.

While walking through the park, I found a black leather wallet. I picked it up and looked around. A few moments earlier, an older man had passed by. Without much thought and on a whim, I ran after him. I called out from behind, “Sorry, Sir!” He didn’t respond. Remembering that the man had Asian features, I tried again with the few words of Chinese I know: “Nǐ hǎo, dǎrǎo yīxià!” And indeed, the man turned around.

I ran up to him, showed him the wallet, and asked in English if he had lost it. He reached into his pocket in surprise and said with both amazement and joy, “Yes, it’s mine! I lost it.” I handed him the wallet, and he thanked me profusely. He asked where I had found it, and I told him.

He then asked if I lived here because I spoke Chinese and where I was from. I told him that I have been living in Singapore for a few years and am originally from Germany. He laughed and said in German, “Guten Tag, mein Herr. Vielen Dank.” (“Good morning, Sir. Thank you very much.”) He laughed again and explained in English that he had worked in Munich and Frankfurt for a Singaporean company many years ago.

He wanted to know where exactly I lived in Germany. I said in the Palatinate, and – as most people elsewhere are not familiar with it – I added that it’s not too far from Heidelberg.

He laughed again, opened the wallet still in his hand, and pulled out a folded, slightly yellowed photo. It showed him – much younger – together with a woman – his wife, as he explained to me – in front of Heidelberg Castle. Incredible, right! I was just as delighted as he was and told him that I got married to my wife in Heidelberg.

We chatted for a while longer and then went our separate ways. I with a genuine smile from this encounter.

For me, this event was a beautiful reminder that we humans are all connected. Not just through the places we've visited or the languages we speak – although traveling abroad and languages certainly help immensely in discovering this global connectedness.

Rather, we are all connected through our shared humanity, what it truly means to be human. Through the happiness and contentment we all seek in our lives. Regardless of where we live and what nationality we belong to.

If only people would realize this from time to time, extremism and xenophobia, which we shockingly encounter in so many places around the world right now, would quickly disappear.

I believe that one of our great spiritual tasks is to counter the hate and bad news in the world. It is a task that each of us can only achieve on a personal level.

And if we’re honest, we all know which aspects within us contribute to our inner growth and which do not. No one will make the right decisions for us. That responsibility remains with us.

As for me, I try as often as possible to make the decisions that my heart whispers to me. And I am sure that offering humanity, love, and hope are always good ways for our own and the world's spiritual growth.

Look around today and see where you can discover human connection. A walk in the park may be a good start.

Warm regards,

Heiko