Introduction

On December 16^th 2021 I celebrated my 80^th birthday. Strangely enough, I started to become more excited about life.

I was born in the middle of World War 2. My mother was a gymnastics instructor, my father a musician playing the bass trombone in the Philharmonic Orchestra of Bochum. To keep me safe during the War my mother took me to her parents’ place in Vienna… where I still live. Like so many little boys I was fascinated by adventure stories; I loved reading books about my heroes, and when I was a teenager, I used to go to the movies a lot. We could say that I was an ordinary boy, with no special ambitions.

However, I enjoyed playing chess, which led to me becoming a Chess Master later in life. The principles of strategy simply fascinated me. Participating in chess contests for me was just good fun, it wasn’t work. For a few decades I held a job in the office of an insurance company that I was not very passionate about but, it allowed me to lead a carefree life. I was a little bit shy and I didn’t like to step out of my comfort zone.

I enjoy dancing Tango Argentino and, to cut a long story short, that’s where Franca Borgia (leverage-the-laws-of-the-universe.com) came in. I still remember exactly how we met. It was Thursday November 27^th 2008, very late in the evening, almost midnight and I was enjoying a tango evening in an elegant XIX century dance hall in the heart of Vienna. As it was almost midnight, only a handful of Tango addicts were still around. I was slightly puzzled when I spotted a long-legged female creature who was comfortably sitting alone on one of the cream sofas by the wall. The upper half of her head was wrapped in an enormous black silk turban that doubled the height of her head covering not only her ears and her eyes but also the upper half of her nose. This headdress was surely the strangest accessory I had ever seen in a Tango evening.

I stepped up to her and slightly bowed my head. A second later she got up and we danced. I didn’t see her eyes and she didn’t look at me either (when we met a few days after that, Franca told me that she had not wanted to skip her hair-care day because, being herself a seasoned tango dancer, she considered the majority of tango addicts to be unworthy of dressing herself up for). We were dancing until 2 a.m. without actually speaking to each other. After the last dance she went out to put her coat on. I managed just in time to say goodbye to her, introducing myself. I said to her, “My name is Herbert, and I have never come across such persistence.” She then asked me for my full name and told me that we might meet again. Indeed, a few days later in a dance theater I saw her again.

That evening a live orchestra was playing but, nobody dared to dance. Franca took the entire stage and delivered a solo dance performance for more than half an hour.

When the stage manager approached her asking her to stop, she asked for her money back and she’s got her money back. And she was right! And, again I made it just in time to greet her when she was putting on her coat. She said to me, “I came here to dance, not to sit around.” I gave her my phone number and she gave me hers.

You might be wondering why I’m sharing this story with you. Franca has challenged me to think in new ways. Around my 80^th birthday I cancelled the subscription of the daily newspaper that I read each and every single day since I was 20.

Franca said to me “Herbert, why are you are wasting your talent? You could already be a bestselling author.” As a matter of fact, over all those years I had been writing countless letters to the editor of that newspaper who did not have the courage to publish them.

I continue to write my thoughts and comments on current affairs to a small group of friends, but Franca persuaded me to share my ideas with a wider audience.

Franca said to me “Herbert, do you seriously expect our leaders to do their job differently?”

“Of course, I would prefer our leaders to do their job differently!”

Franca continued, “Herbert, people have always had and always will have the leaders they accept and, therefore, deserve.”

Franca got me thinking.

Are these leaders, at least, those we call our leaders, the leaders that we deserve?

“Herbert, you are absolutely brilliant! Don’t hide! People need to hear you, people need to see you; your common sense is what we need right now.”

I’m grateful to Franca for her encouragement. I have to say that although there are many brilliant thinkers in the world, sadly many of the people in positions of power lack vision and foresight, and are sometimes unable to express themselves freely and clearly.