Turquoise

During my teenage years, I felt oppressed by Germany, by its people, by its culture, by my parents even by my classmates and friends. I think we have all felt this way, to some degree. My first year of University was a glorious disaster. I lived in an apartment with what I thought were like minded individuals, dedicated to freedom. There were six of us in this apartment, a couple with a bird they kept uncaged in their room, a student chef, who we called Chef Koch, who never cooked for us and refused to eat meat that he had not personally slaughtered, and a lesbian couple who never wore bras at home but went out dressed in punk, bondage attire. Our politics were left wing, but anti-Communist according to the questionnaire I  had to fill out when I applied for a room.

We were close to being Greens, but purposefully rejected a dogmatic adoption of all of the environmental party’s platform. We called ourselves Turquoise, in part because that was the chef’s favorite color and because it implied a more worldly point of view. We often would have meetings to discuss and decide what we stood for and once a decision had been made, a decision that had to be unanimous, there was no turning back. Our first decision was to save energy by only taking cold showers or baths. In the winter, we would fill up the tub and let the water come to room temperature.

The couples saved water by bathing together. The lesbian couple offered to let me bathe with them, so as to save money, but I declined. Soon, there was a discussion about whether or not it was appropriate for myself and the chef, who were single, to use more water than the couples. The couples didn’t think it was right and the chef also didn’t think it was right. He even said that he felt guilty whenever he or I bathed because we were using more water than we needed to. We voted to decide that he and I should bathe together. I was the lone hold out. The chef soon got a girlfriend and I was forced to move out. I was violating the group’s principals.

Chef Koch was very inspirational, even though I knew him for a short time years ago. One of his sayings was: "We should strive to improve other people's work by helping them improve our own work."

As we go through life collecting experiences, there are things we remember to remind ourselves to tell our children if we ever have them. Chef Koch's sayings, and this one in particular, I often repeat to my children, especially when they are working on their homework. Moreover, it is a standard that I have striven to live by.