Ubuntu. Goodness, compassion, and the willingness to forgive wrongdoing

To thumbs up for the lecture! What a wise guy

This lecture that Sturla held, it doesn't quite let go of me. I've been thinking a lot about what it meant for me and my thoughts about my journey for the next year. Because if there's one thing I dislike more than oysters, it must be change. I'm really bad at it. And now I'm going to embark on a year filled with change. So I've been thinking about what I should learn before I start. I know that I want to become more confident in myself and be able to do more things on my own. That's the goal after the challenge year. But how should I think to achieve that?"

"The first thing I think I need to get better at is being visible! I really like being invisible. Being the one you have to know is there, otherwise you won't notice her. The one who avoids eye contact at the store to avoid saying something wrong during spontaneous small talk. Or the one who shrinks in the corner when the party starts to pick up and people become a bit more unpredictable. So I think this is something I have to stop doing. I simply have to take up more space around me.

Another thing I need to get better at before I leave is talking to new people. I have to dare to say hi to people I meet. Dare to ask for help. Even small talk with people I meet! I know people who are good at it and they experience so much fun because of it. I want that too."

"I think I've started to figure out who I am and who I want to be. So now I'm going to find my place in the community.

And that brings me to what I wrote in the headline. Ubuntu. This word comes from Zulu and there's really no good Norwegian word for it. This is what I found when I searched for it: Goodness, compassion, and the willingness to forgive wrongdoing. Some have also tried to explain it with "I am because we are, and we are because I am." So we are all part of the community and without it, we are nothing. We can't do everything alone. We have to show each other goodness. You can safely share what you have because you know that everyone shares what they have. If someone does something bad, everyone is affected by it and everyone has to forgive for life to be good again. If I could have such a mindset, maybe I could be more visible. Because then it means that I am an important part of the community. I have to be part of spreading goodness and compassion. So others can experience it. And I have to give people the chance to show me goodness.

I don't mean that we can't do things alone. That's exactly what I want to get better at. But I mean that I don't need to go through life alone! I just want to be able to go on a trip without Morten, for example. I don't want to live isolated from everyone. I think that if I get a little ubuntu in my life, maybe I can be even more myself. The myself that I really am deep down. The one I think doesn't quite fit in everywhere. But I hope that by seeing myself as part of something bigger, maybe I can find my place and take it! Because if this is actually true, there's a place for all of us in the community. We just have to put aside our ego and cheer on people!

So cheers to those of you reading this! I'm sure that without you, the world would be different."

Translated by Kari Boisvert