One of the most philosophical questions of mankind. Who am I? I am a lucky guy who, just by coincidence, was born in one of the richest countries in the world. Son of two refugees who fled the Soviet invasion 1969. Their families lost everything and had to start from a scratch. They both met in Switzerland where I was born some years later. I guess the history never left me. Confused by the richness of this country and knowing that most of the people live in poor conditions I was always aware of injustice. I couldn't stand the fact that I can have everything and others starve to death. What did I do to deserve this? Nothing... And what do I do to change it?

My first travels led me to Asia where I realised how different life can be... how different and still good. I understood that changing your thoughts can change your behavior and thus can change laws and change systems. And that's what needs to happen.

 

I studied medicine since I believed that no one shall suffer. My plan was to set out on a mission and travel through countries with poor medical systems. But I didn't realize how difficult it is... I've always wanted to be a better doctor before going to other countries. And so the time passed. I know I will do some volunteer work. But for now it has to wait.

 

Realizing my luck growing up in luxury (lower middle class in Switzerland) I knew I had to live the best life possible. Which includes doing everything you dream of. And one of my big dreams was flying. I never literally dreamt of flying as such – I always fell down from big heights in my dreams. But I was drawn into the air. So one day I did a Tandem Flight in Columbia. I thought I was dreaming. The air was so beautiful, the surroundings. And the further we went up the closer I felt to humanity. But I thought that the art of flying must be extremely difficult to learn. Until one day I went to the Zurich Pride were there was a stand for paragliding. I won a training day and got hooked immediately.

 

One day, watching the black lives matter movement I told myself: Every life matters. As an LGBT man I knew what it meant to be systematically discriminated. There was many rights that we had to fight for. Although I have to admit that I never had the resources to fight by volunteering or by organizing campaigns I knew that it's my duty to live my life openly so that I could show the world that we are “normal” people too. Only if everyone who suffers discrimination lives his life proudly and openly we can show the world how colorful it is. It is our duty to be out and proud. No matter who we are.