When I was a small child I wanted to find out how the world works. This was when my parents and I lived in a secluded Tyrolean Alpine valley at 1500 m above sea level.
Many of my questions were answered by the gnomes (little beings, invisible for adults) who lived in the three rocks on the slope of the hill our house stood on. We had countless conversations, and even my Mom refrained from calling me, when she saw me sitting on the rock oblivious to the “real” world around me. The gnomes helped me to orient myself in the world around me, and they listened to me as I developed ideas to improve it.
The deep desire to contribute to making this world a place where everyone’s needs are fulfilled or at least respected, was alive in me then, and it is still alive in me today.