Dare to look at the world in “another light”, choose “creative wonderment”, which is an antidote to cynicism. It also allows commitment to “the future of our democracies”. This is the message King Philippe gave during his Christmas speech on Sunday.
The Head of State does not want to negate “the personal difficulties we face, the uncertainty of today’s world and the threats to global stability”. But he thinks it’s necessary “to dare to see things in another light, one that goes beyond what is missing, what is wrong: one that lets us to wonder”.
The King shared his belief that hope is founded on a “choice” we make, because “our way of looking at things, conditions the way we react”. He says this wonder at “what we have built together, what we have accumulated together, which are the fruit of a long story of connections based on solidarity and compromise” allows us to “find the strength not to give in to cynicism and sterile indifference”. “The future of our democracies depends first of all on how we choose to look at things”, Philippe says.
In his speech, the King doesn’t directly mention the terrorist attacks, which he focused on heavily in his two previous speeches. He doesn’t speak about relations between the country’s communities either, like he often did during his first years in office.
The Brussels Times
