Hallo all
This is Dr. Johannes Grabsch, German by birth, now a resident in Yorkshire, UK
I am a retired Chemical Engineer (30 years with the Shell Oil Company), I can hardly believe this myself...
I have to warn you. Retirement life is not too easy! It is simply a myth that retired people do have lots of time.
I do still work, parttime at Leeds University, Keyworth Institute, teaching engineering students.
My aim ist it to show them that there are more important things in life than just making lots of money.
We start by looking at the Two-Pennies worth of wisdom on the rear face of an old stile two penny coin.
Where it says in the banner of the Prince of Wales:
Ich dien
I am a servant.
meaning:
I serve, I fulfill my place, I accept my duties.
I serve a purpose, my purpose, our purpose.
I want to be humble and diligent.
I will be a good and loyal team member.
Team
Now what is this?
It is an ancient germanic word: Team, Seam = Saum, Zaum
A 'zaum' is the leather works tying a group of horses to the coach.
So : A Team is a team of horses pulling a coach, at the same speed, same direction, equally sharing the load and there is NO leader.
What a fine picture!
A team is also flock of swans flying in V-formation, creating a slipstream, thus helping each other. The bird in front knows the way and takes a temporary lead, before swapping with another bird.
Again, what a fine picture!
And, a team is also a group of piglets, sharing the milk of the mother sow, struggling for a resource, but sharing it.
Again, what a fine picture!
Ich diene
does not mean
Ich verdiene - I deserve (a promotion or a payrise).
There are only three driving forces in ones work:
Power, Money, or simply Doing a good Job.
Doing a good Job will be rewarded by Money or Power.
Money or Power alone are turning the owner into a very lonely person.
This is what I try to teach to students. The events in the banking sector recently give me lots of examples.
Only very few people in England have an idea, where 'Ich dien' comes from. The folks in Wales think it is something whesh.
14th Century
England is fighting a long and bloody war in France, about the control of the northern provinces in France. The English case is almost lost...
Then the King sends his own son, Edward aged 16, first Prince of Wales, later called the Black Prince, as his Commander to France.
Edward is a brilliant leader, he manages to rally the troops. At Crecy he wins a decisive victory.
In those day it was usual to loot/rob the slain enemies after of battle or to take survivors as hostages. So it happens.
Edward is called to the body of a dead enemy knight in a brilliant armour, worthy of a king, but there is no coat of arms. On his shield are only two funny words, that nobody understands. They find another survivor and he tells this story:
The man in King Johannes of Bohemia. Johannes had become king by way of marriage, in his former life he was the Duke of Lothringia (Lorraine) in France, and as such he had sworn an oath of allegiance to the King of France. And when the french king called, Johannes came, leading a small army, to honour his oath.
He did it, although from some illness he was almost blind - well knowing that he would not survive the battle.
The word on the shield were
"Ich dien", I am a servant or I serve my purpose
Edward is so impressed, that he picks up Johannes' shield adding the two words to his own coat of arms. And the words have been in the coat of arms of the Princes of Wales ever since.
Edward never made it to the top, his father survided him.
Interestingly, they spoke German in Lorraine and Bohemia in the those days.
This is what I teach.
Whatever is time is left, I use for my hobby, building miniature Live Steam Locomotives.
You can look over my shoulder at
http://www.berliner-eisenbahn.de/Baubeschreibung BR 74 or
Baubeschreibung P8
(in German)
You see, retirement life is even more demanding then the so called professional life.
My German buddies call me the Yorkie
Johannes
