Dear business partners, colleagues and friends,
my last two New Year notes proved too optimistic: Covid made a come-back in 2021. And this year the Russian war on Ukraine has thwarted any return to normality in the most regressive manner imaginable; this note therefore can’t be about business.
It wouldn‘t be right for me to talk, from the safety of my desk, about things I have no inkling of: the threat of violence, the fear, the loss of livelihood, even of life – but I simply have to use this note to bow to the Ukrainian people, who are withstanding the brutal aggression so bravely.
I want to mention, too, a group of students who for me set an example. At the outset of the war, they set-up a relief effort, the Friends of Medyka, to help refugees arriving at the Polish border town – putting aside for some time their studies and personal considerations to do what needed to be done, and to do it themselves.
What I wish for in 2023 is this: Ukraine and its people at peace and free to prosper. A Europe whose citizens recognize how valuable – and fragile – the treasures are that they own: political liberty, cultural diversity, and free enterprise. And that these citizens, we, do our bit to augment these treasures whenever we can, and defend them whenever we must.
Too optimistic once more? If we leave it at the wishing, yes, probably. But so much is up to us: we decide – every day – what is important and what is an accessory and are free to act on that insight.
On this radically positive note: All the best to you, your family and your friends for the New Year!
Dietmar
December 22, 2022
Lucilius Interim Dr. Dietmar Scheja
Financial Leadership – Restructuring – Finance Upgrade and Transformation
