Michael Ballweg left Germany and canceled his return flight.
Today he lives in El Salvador.
His accounts were frozen.
His companies were destroyed.
He was imprisoned.
Many know his story.
But very few understand what it truly means.
I had the opportunity to interview him:
About Germany.
About the coronavirus pandemic.
About what might happen in the coming years.
About energy.
About Europe.
About freedom.
But above all, we talked about one thing:
Change.
Since the pandemic, at the latest, many people have realized
that things they used to take for granted
are suddenly no longer a given.
Accounts can be frozen.
Companies can be destroyed.
Opinions can cause problems.
Freedom can be restricted.
And yet, most people still live the same way as before.
They've seen it all.
They've heard it all.
They've understood it all.
But they haven't changed anything. The biggest misconception in life is:
Believing that knowledge alone is enough.
You can understand how the system works.
You can understand how money works.
You can understand how politics works.
But if you don't change anything,
nothing will change.
Many people today are more informed than ever before.
But at the same time, more dependent than ever before.
They know everything.
But they change nothing.
It's not enough to be enlightened.
You must also act enlightenedly.
Many people wait.
Many people hope.
Many people think they still have time.
But most of the big changes in life don't happen when you know more.
But when you make a decision.
Michael made a decision.
Leaving Germany.
A new beginning.
El Salvador.
And he says what surprised him most there is not just the freedom.
But the energy in the country.
This sense of new beginnings.
This feeling that something is being created, not something is falling apart.
Perhaps that's ultimately the difference between countries:
In some countries, they manage decline.
In other countries, they build the future.
The interview with him reminded me of something
that many know, but few truly understand:
You don't have to change the whole world.
You just have to change your choices.
Home is no longer necessarily the place
where you were born.
Home is the place
where you have options.
Where you can decide freely.
Where you are not dependent.
And perhaps the most important insight from all of this is not political, not economic,
but personal:
It's not enough to recognize things.
You also have to have the courage to act on them.
