My name is Levy Orlando Röpcke . Having grown up between two very different cultures, I struggled for a long time to find my place in society. Today, I try to use my privileges and resources to make our society a little more welcoming and accessible for people like me.
Confidence is a value that guides me in life.
Confidence is the opposite of fear. Unlike blind optimism, it is always in interplay with fear and is conditioned by it – almost as an afterthought to it. For me, as a fundamentally anxious person, confidence serves as motivation and inspiration.
Justice is a value that constantly challenges me.
For me, justice means the fair distribution of fear and confidence in our society. A large majority lives in fear, while a few seem to know nothing of it. Yet my intrinsic pursuit of justice constantly compels me to seek confidence with the fearful and to teach fear to the fearless.
Empathy is a value that our society should embrace more.
We should treat each other with more empathy, because only then can we meet on equal terms. We are often conditioned to suppress empathy from a young age, which leads us to lose respect for our fellow human beings and contributes to a coarsening of society. However, when empathetic values are taught and practiced, a community can emerge that addresses the needs of the vulnerable and in which every person feels seen and valued.
