On being a Christmas tree
With his book "Ik ben de wereld. Anders denken in de 21ste eeuw." (I am the world - thinking differently in the 21st century) Jan Warndorff, Dutch philosopher, writes about something that intrigues me immensely. My background in social science and experience in Human Centered Design always lead me back to the question of behaviour change (a tough nut to crack, would be a pretty solid summary of most scientific research in this area, I guess).
Warndorff writes about the way we áre the world, part of the whole. In the context of systemic change: we áre the system.
In the Netherlands (and other places in the world) many people bring a fir tree in doors towards the end of the year, often relation to the celebration of Christmas. Some lights go in the tree, decorations, sparkles and voila there you have it: an instant "Christmas feeling" is achieved: festive and 'gezellig' - a favourite Dutch term (meaning something like cozy, sociable intimate, snug, homey and convivial).
Warndorff wonders (see below for the full article) 'what does the tree feel'? The trees, often about 10 years old, grown cell by cell, branch by branch.. Are they happy to be decorated? (I wonder). Are they the forest's diva's who enjoy the (human) attention? And more importantly: are they willing to give their lives for us?
Because, in some cases - these trees will not find their way back to the forest, to their families. They simply, brutally, are thrown out of the house before the end of January. Garbage.
Warndorff describes how he finds this unbearably painful. And the fact that I read this, in one of the main Dutch newspapers, gives me hope. Not an 'objective' description of things going wrong in this world (important as these are - don't get me wrong) but a personal story about how somebody's internal and emotional world is changing.
How someone is not only suggesting different ways to behave (tips that make a lot of sense, like: buy or rent a tree that you can keep outside the rest of the year, or that can return to the forest after the festivities are over) and making rational arguments to do so (Warndorff subtly points to the fact that we are celebrating light and thus life, during this time)- but how someone cannot anymore behave in this 'old' way- because they find it too painful.
And this is what makes me so hopeful. Because it shows that change is happening. It shows that wé are changing. Not (only) because we think we should change but because it simply starts to hurt too much to keep behaving in the ways we have.
Hoe is het om een denneboom te zijn
In Dutch and unfortunately only for members of NRC