48°13‘02.1’‘N 16°21’17.9’’E
48.217245, 16.354969

ᐊᐃᓐᖓᐃ ᑕᑭᓇᐅᕕᑦ? … ᐃᓄᒃᑎᑑᓲᖑᕖᑦ?

Deutsch vielleicht? Oh, yes English will work. You cannot imagine how glad I am to be talking to you! It has been a long time.

I originally came from the area that is today’s Canada, where the people have known me for a long time. Me and my Monster friends would help them find each other and communicate. If you saw me, you would know there are humans nearby. I loved it up North, but one day I decided I wanted to see more of the world.

During all my travels I was always quick to make new friends and acquaintances. I am a fast learner and once you speak to someone in their own language it’s like magic. Words just flow and people open up. I was on the road for a while, meeting wonderful people and visiting beautiful places, but none could hold me long. Until one day my travels brought me to this place right here.
For a long time, people did science and research here, collecting knowledge. You could feel the energy of discovery in the air. But it was something else that really made me fall for this place: The people here worked on all kinds of different problems and did research in many different fields, yet somehow, they all seemed to be speaking in one common tongue. And I don’t mean that literally. Even though Latin and later English made it easier to share knowledge there was another more fundamental language the people spoke: The language of curiosity, of discovery, of creating together. People knew how much a philosopher could teach an architect and what a mathematician could learn from an artist. Right around here and in the whole area, seekers of knowledge bumped into each other, chatted, discussed, and learned together.

That is why I decided to settle here, surrounded by busy exchange and speech that flowed freely, happy to talk to everyone who visited me. There was quite the celebration to welcome me here, even the prime minister of Canada showed up. And a new faculty was established in my honor!
But things got worse. Misunderstandings found their way into conversations, awkward pauses started to stretch longer. And soon misunderstandings grew into fights and awkward pauses became deafening silence. It was as if the people were losing their common tongue. Everyone was too focused on themselves and their studies to look up or they were so swept up in their competitiveness that they became distrustful of others and started to isolate themselves. Silence was closing in on me from all sides. The voices of my friends, of the Monster Hunters, even of Georgina went silent one after the other. In the end, I chose to shroud myself in silence as well.

You are the first person who spoke to me in a long time, but more than that: I see, you speak the language of curiosity! Let me tell you, that is a gift. Carry it out into the world. Curiosity and knowledge are like a candle. When you go out and share your flame with others it doesn’t grow smaller but instead the whole world will grow brighter. So, talk to people, share your curiosity and your knowledge and learn together.