Encouragement messages from the District Administrator: Hope - Colourful as a rainbow

The coronavirus is omnipresent at the moment - and dominates every area of life almost every day. In order to encourage the people of Waldeck-Frankenberg in these difficult times, District Administrator Dr. Reinhard Kubat started the "Lichtblicke" series of articles at the beginning of the year with a total of four messages to encourage people. In the fourth and final article, hope is the topic.

Dear fellow citizens,

Even the most beautiful journey comes to an end, and so it is now with my "Lichtblicken", the little messages of encouragement with which I wanted to make your way through the difficult time of the pandemic a little easier. I hope that I have succeeded in doing so, that you have been able to feel the power of light, the small joys and amazing miracles while reading them, and that your eyes have opened to the beauties of life that are present despite difficult times. And with this "I hope" I am also already at the final "ray of hope", which should bring the journey of thoughts to a beautiful conclusion as promised: hope.

Do you still remember what you liked to draw when you were a child? Which crayon or wax crayon was used up the fastest? Many of you will now probably spontaneously answer with conviction with "yellow" for a shining sun and "blue" for a no less radiant sky. But if you think a little longer, haven't other colours been used almost as intensively? Go ahead and take a closer look at your children's or grandchildren's pictures. I am sure you will find at least as many rainbows on them as happy yellow suns and shimmering blue skies. Because the rainbow with its seven lucky colours has fascinated us humans since time immemorial.

Hardly anyone remains unaffected when, after a storm or a heavy shower, the play of colours of the rainbow appears as if by magic in the clearing firmament. It stands for change - from rainy weather to sunshine - as well as for departure - from the gloom of the overcast to the brightness of the clear sky - and is thus the strongest symbol of hope. In many oral and written stories of different peoples, the rainbow is found in myths, in art, always as a sign of confidence, as an encouragement that everything will be all right again, however bad it may seem at the moment. Even Friedrich Nietzsche, who otherwise was not necessarily known for optimism, used it in his confident saying: "Hope is the rainbow over the rushing stream of life.

In the Bible, the rainbow is the sign of the covenant between man and God, and in the belief of the Germanic tribes, the coloured bridge in the sky also stood for the connection to the gods. Contact between Midgard, the earth, and Asgard, the dwelling place of the gods, could be maintained via the Bifröst, the three-beam rainbow bridge. And with the destruction of the Bifröst in Ragnarök, the end of the world, all hope was destroyed at the same time. How good it is that we only need to look up into the sky to discover a new rainbow again and again, and with it new hope!

Rainbows, however, are so much more, dear fellow citizens. They manifest the longing for comfort and a better world that is waiting for us behind the play of colours in the sky, that is within our reach beyond the bridge. So it is no wonder that in the United States of America, 3 April has been declared "Find a rainbow day" and with it, people are diligently searching, full of hope, for the pot of gold that is said to be buried at the end of the rainbow. What luck for anyone who finds this pot of gold and can free himself from worries and hardships with his wealth! Or let us remember the well-known song "Over the Rainbow" from the film musical "The Wizard of Oz", sung by Judy Garland, which made its triumphal march around the world. Released at the beginning of World War II, it embodied the longing for home for many soldiers. They dreamed of a place "where troubles melt like lemondrops". "Over the Rainbow" actually made them bear the hardships and fears of war a little better and gave them new hope.

Beyond the rainbow, where worries and fears gradually vanish into thin air like a slowly sucked sweet... let us connect to this longing, dear fellow citizens, let us believe together in a place without difficulties every time we see a rainbow full of hope. Even if it is a small, narrow, momentary bridge to heaven, it can make us hopeful. And you know, "Hope is like sugar in tea - even if it's small, it sweetens everything." Little by little, sugar crystal by sugar crystal, our confidence grows, our certainty of containing the pandemic... maybe not tomorrow or the day after tomorrow, but someday. Just as even the most violent storm is followed by sunshine once again and brings forth the most beautiful rainbow.

So now it has been reached, the destination of my journey of thoughts. I would like to thank all those who have accompanied me on my journey over the past weeks. Those who have reported back with approving words, with comments or suitable pictures on the individual stations of the journey. They have confirmed one thing for me: The beauties of life are not as hidden as we sometimes fear. They are perceived and shared, to the delight of many. To conclude on a really good note, I therefore bid you farewell to a confident tomorrow with the insight of author Peter Kuznick: "Hope is the ability to hear the music of the future." May it be exclusively harmonious tones in the major sound of a symphony of joy for you!

Dr Reinhard Kubat

District Administrator