Significant Relations In My Life

Significant relations in my life

One of the most important persons in my life was my friend Oliver. He was the brother I never had, we shared everything, and he passed away as a result of his diabetes in an accident at the age of 23. When I compare his life with mine, I understand why I should – and actually am – grateful. His mother got divorced when he was in kindergarten, and then married again. Oliver and his older brother were much more independent than I was, but at the same time there was a lack of nest warmth. Oliver spent nearly every afternoon together with our family, and even his (much) older brother visited us frequently. When we moved to my grandparents’ house in 1974, they both kept visiting me over the weekends.

In his short life, Oliver was like Donald Duck, always having bad luck, while I was more like Gladstone Gander without knowing it. When I was young, I always took things for granted until I experienced the opposite. Oliver’s life was too short and full of negative events, and he had to work hard for everything. He died in a traffic accident on

I ended-up as an in-house lawyer by accident, and became the General Counsel of this company at the age of 35. Mr. Ellegast was a visionary, always thinking about strategy and leadership, and he made contact to an organisation called “Seitenwechsel”, which offers managers an opportunity to work with persons experiencing difficult circumstances of life - sickness, addiction, disability and homelessness. We were a group of ten managers, including Mr. Ellegast and another member of the executive board, who left their comfort zone for one week. I decided to work with handicapped children, and this has been the most valuable experience I have ever made, because it helped me to be grateful and to understand what is really important in our