Tired back from an exhausting but delightful day! We had many conversations, about very different topics, with very different people; Frieda was the youngest with 10, the oldest, at least who admitted his age, was 75. A good range, - but also with many younger people. Students and pupils had the day off...  It was interesting that everyone was very open with us.

Our code:  #peaceful #friendly #freefromhate

At the beginning we were a bit worried that it could also be radical. But basically that was the absolute exception. Our code, which we had written in the hashtags #friedlich #freundlich #freivonhass on the poster, was always accepted in the end. Through the objective exchange of motivations and arguments, we were also able to learn a lot from people: for example, why they are angry and have brass on politics when it comes to the topic of pensions, care or housing, for example.

 "When the blame was placed one-sidedly on certain groups of people, I asked where the information was coming from," Jakob recounted in retrospect. "How you get your information has a big impact on what your opinion is, after all." Here, some of the team were able to sensitize the interlocutors*.

Croissants for the team

Some of those who took part spun their topic on the wheel of fortune. Others had it on their mind. Of course, we took that on board, too. One particularly nice experience: a lady from the district of Würzburg, Mrs. Schulz, came by, discussed with us and brought the team croissants and other pastries so that we could fortify ourselves. A wonderful gesture that we all appreciated very much! THANK YOU again for that!

Listening and taking others seriously was important

Overall, there was a lot of positive feedback. People were happy that we were interested in your topics and listening to you. Many could not believe it. They then asked if we wanted something from them or if they needed to donate something... When these rather skeptical passersby realized that we had no ulterior motives, they got involved in the conversation. They were also happy that we were passing on their concerns to politicians. But the listening and the conversation were even more important for them. Afterwards, there was hot punch and cookies and a casual continuation about this and that.

Jitters can be overcome

For those of us who prepared and led the conversations, our feet did get cold in the end. But it was worth it. We reached a lot of people. And we gained good experience ourselves. For example, that you can learn to approach other people, even if you're a little nervous about it at first, and that it gets easier every time you do.

TV Station ARD was there

The ARD was also there and shot a report about the action. It will be published in January in the series "Respect" (see ARD Mediathek) under the title "The Power of Words". We are curious to see what else will be brought to this topic and how our initiative will be found there..... We will point you to it.

THANKS to you!

First of all, thanks to our friends and cooperation partners from the Stadtjugendring, Felix and Madeleine, who did the first preliminary work, Johanna, Stefanie, Elmaz and Thomas, who were actively involved from the preparation to the end! And of course to our pics4peaceYOUNGSTERS Lucas, Max, Anna, Jakob, Tobias and their friends! THANK YOU all!!!

A first short movie impression from today, here.Thanks to Fabian (from boxfish film), who immediately started to cut together one of them to a short impression about our punsch4peace today!  Simply a real boxfish.They swim slowly, 'highly concentrated' you could say (like in the filming), but they are very agile and can even turn on the spot, (if they think it's appropriate ;-)