A Promise to My Dad
Newsletter from September 3, 2025
Hi dear student,
This week my Dad would have turned 100 years old. He passed on years back at the ripe age of 93 and was thus spared the challenges of Covid and the present political and social upheavals.
What he passed on to me were not only good genes, a fine sense of humour and generosity at large, but most importantly a mountain of kindness. And all that despite his painful and harsh upbringing in Nazi Germany, an alcoholic father and a mentally ill mother who was in fact killed by the Nazis simply for being ill. Don´t worry, I get back to the good stuff in a minute!!
Naturally my dad also passed on to me what I call “the German Backpack“, a load of unhealed traumas, secrets and burdens that are bound to impact the next generations to come, unless my generation is willing to dig into this backpack and actively starts the healing process.
Our performance of „The Puppet Master“ was the result of years of active searching and healing, a tour de force of opening up my heart and soul and an active effort to brake the repetitive and destructive cycle we are still witnessing unfolding in our world today.
What about the good stuff I promised? Well, here it is, we can brake the cycle and overcome, we can heal and support healing. But it all starts with ourselves. No blaming game, no finger pointing, not complaining and not being the victim will change the world. It must start with our own true inner transformation.
From here the ripple effect of our own healing will spread it‘s magic. As a parent, a teacher, a politician, a cleaner or a puppeteer, we will impact the world around us for the better.
So, I promised my late Dad, or Paps as we called him, to do my homework and then pick up his golden rule of kindness and compassion. I am grateful for his legacy he left behind, and I am also ever so grateful to all my students and colleges that are equally comitted to let their light shine. We are in this together!
Oh, there are more good things to announce, great news from Worlds of Puppets, but I save them for a later Newsletter. For today I simply send you all my loving thoughts and strengthening winds from the Whalefjord here in Iceland.
Bernd
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