The Empty Chair
2t visiting the Future Workshop - The Empty Chair. The future is one of those things that no one can promise or tell us about with certainty. It can be exciting and hopeful, but it can also be uncertain and scary.
Written by Ella Augusta Kallehave, 2t.
Although the climate is a somewhat tiring topic for many, it does not mean that it is not relevant - it is actually more important than ever before. That is why we are seeing a lot of local initiatives flourishing. One of them is the "future workshop" at Birkerød Library. Here, both young and old souls are invited to rethink the future and together create ideas that can help lay new foundations for the society of the future.
The workshop begins with a simple exercise: You have to position yourself in relation to how hopeful or pessimistic you are about the future, and how much influence you think you have on it. The majority are very pessimistic and hesitant about how much one as an individual can actually cope with the incalculable burden that the world situation is.
High school students and seniors are asked together to imagine different scenarios and think far outside the boring confines of the box. First and foremost: What do we expect the likely future to look like? And how would we wish it looked? What could it look like if the laws of physics and the world's social structures were thrown far away? Deep conversations and reflections are opened up, but all the time with one small thing in mind; namely "the empty chair". On the empty chair, which is placed in the middle of the room, sits nothing less than the coming generation - the motivation. It could be a sweet little daughter or a loving great-grandchild. New and crazy ideas are aired, and thought-provoking topics plant serious considerations in everyone's minds. Clear images emerge, both wishful and horror scenarios.
The future workshop ends with words turning into action. Exciting initiatives and micro-actions are taking root. Agreements have been made between new and older generations to have communal meals focusing on repairing old gold, to encourage each other to become more self-sufficient, or to start competitions to see who can spot the most insects in their newly planted flower beds. There is a nod of approval from the empty chair.
Everyone, high and low, is asked to do the same exercise again as before the workshop started. Far more people now look hopefully to the future, and not a single person sees themselves as a powerless individual. For one thing we have learned: We are masters of our future, despite the unpredictability it brings, and we will not disappoint the empty chair.