It is with great pleasure that I wish all Swiss people “Happy National Day” – our US July 4th, our French Bastille Day…

Happy August 1st!

On this day all over Switzerland you can go to Farmer Brunches, attend speeches and fireworks, go to the forest and have a bratwurst over the fire.  You can do all these and more – and we are a direct democracy, and so far, it is working. Thank God.

But today I remember places where democracy is threatened or non-existent.

I remember, Myanmar, Sudan, DRC, and of course, Yemen, Palestine/Gaza/Israel.

I also remember Venezuela today, on August first. My husband and I ate at a lovely Bodega yesterday, munching on Arepas and enjoying fine Venezuelan coffee. Mmmm! At the end of the meal, we asked her how she was doing with the election “results” and the mass protests. Her first sentence was that they are “killing the youth” she had tears in her eyes as she said she and her immediate family had lived outside Venezuela for two decades, but that her parents and others dear to her were there. She wants the people of the country to decide who rules, not the military, not a dictator.

That is what democracy is about, it is letting the people, not the “elite” decide. In Switzerland this is still the norm and for that I am grateful. But in many other places this is not normal, and I LAMENT the fact.

Let us all on this day of positive celebration in one place remember others struggling to have what we have, in the words of a famous American: life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness – for everyone, great, small, rich, poor, and of every tribe and tongue.

Happy August 1st, wherever you are!

Patricia Jehle                    patricia@jehle-coaching.com