GUESTS OF DAY 18 - May 13th


Tonight I was visited by my colleague Alexandra Lieb and her husband Marc, who is a race car driver.

This really adds to the "occupation" portfolio of my visitors. I think "soldier" and "race car driver" are the two most exciting ones but that might be because I'm a guy and it really has nothing to do with the project.

Or maybe it has, because Marc told me about religion in the racing industry. He said that in the USA there is an organisation called "Racing Ministry". In fact, there are several, one with a nice homepage is the "American Racing Ministry" (http://armracing.org/). They provide religious services to drivers, staff and fans on and around race courses. Marc also reported that in the USA the prayer before a race is a community experience, shared by all. It is almost a reflex to take of a hat and bow one's head, while in Germany praying before a race is rather lonely exprience ...

I found that to be typical American (oh well, a prejudice). There seems to be an organisation or institution for everything! Every niche has its ambassadors. Just a few tries on google reveal that there is a special service helping those who lost a ... pet. Let alone the "Church for Pets". Happy Googling. I like that though. It's transferring something that is meant to give strength to something else that one thinks deserves the same strength. In the case of Racing Ministries it seems logical, it is a dangerous sport after all ...

The two have a son and after he was Christened, he ran around and Christened everybody else as well. To his own name though ... He was quite old already and experienced the whole thing consciously.