André Muswieck is a German fireman. At seven o’clock last Monday evening, the phone rang in his fire station in Bergen auf Rügen, 200 kilometers from Berlin. On the other side of the line there was no fire, at least not the kind he usually puts out. It was the voice of German chancellor Angela Merkel, who wanted to know what he considered his most important contribution to society. Muswieck was not rude, but he was laconic: “Listen, I’m not in the mood for f***ing radio jokes right now.” And he hung up.
Merkel isn’t used to being hung up on. Especially not by firemen. I guess nobody would be too happy about the fire department hanging up on them. We all wanted to be a fireman when we were kids. So she called again. This time, she managed to convince Muswieck that she was the real Merkel, and she congratulated the emergency workers on their support during the health crisis. But what I like about the story is not Merkel but Muswieck, because he plays the part of a new kind of hero: one who wouldn’t ever expect to receive a call from someone important just because he’s doing his job. Muswieck is civil society. And that’s exactly what we need now. When people tell you that the model for getting out of this mess is China, the criminal Communist dictatorship, remind them that China is not the solution but the problem. The real solution is Muswieck.
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