Enough of this daily p(r)essimism!
Terror attacks, natural disasters, the Covid crisis: bad news follows us everywhere, from morning radio shows to the evening news on TV, and all those push notifications on our smartphones in-between. According to trauma studies, news of terrible events can have a similar adverse effect on us as actually experiencing them.
Yet it’s not as if we were helpless in the face of this seemingly continuous series of crises. Ronja von Wurmb-Seibel spent two and a half years reporting from Kabul, where she learnt that serious news can reveal social problems and produce solutions. Only when we understand why we see the world the way we do, and learn to tell our stories in such a way that they can inspire courage – only then can we contribute to a better future in a thoughtful and enlightened way.