Interview 2
Well, I was born 1966 as the eldest son of an English mother and a German father, twenty-one years after the last devastating war between England and Germany. My grandmother barely survived the Spanish flu as a teenager in 1918. My father, as a little boy, had to escape from his burning home after a British bomber attack 1943. When he was a young man, a friend fell ill and asked my father if he would like to go to a student exchange to England instead of him, and that’s how my father got to know my mother. So, what I learned from all these stories was that anyone’s life is a statistical miracle (laughter in the audience), I mean, something that is so unlikely to happen that one should be thankful as much as one can (more laughter in the audience). I had a happy childhood and youth, apart from the first hidden symptoms of a depression disorder when I was sixteen. After my community service, which turned out to be a disaster, I studied mathematics and computer science and worked at several universities in the field of database systems. – But, Thomas 1, why didn’t you study literature or creative writing? – Why didn’t you study literature or creative writing, Thomas 2? (disturbance in the audience)
Tagged with: Me • Writing