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| Antonio Bean's selfie with Martin Luther |
Antonio Bean. Protestant Prior. Denmark.
I'm Antonio Bean. I was born in Vejle, Denmark. I'm a Protestant Prior. Once I read a book about Martin Luther and I realized I must follow his path. I'm a peaceful and shy person who tries to talk about peace and respect between all the cultures. I like Ramon Llull, the Majorcan theologian because he was the first in talking about the common things between religions and using language as an incredible tool of communication.
-Good morning, Antonio Bean and thanks to attend us.
-Good morning. It's an enormous pleasure.
-How's life in Denmark?
-Well, it's like in other places but colder.
-Why did you choose your career?
-I believe in God strongly and I thought I could help my society being a member of my church. It's not an easy enterprise because it's difficult to arrive to a workplace of responsibility inside Protestant Church, but it's not my objective. My main idea is to serve my family and my community.
-Tell me an advantage of being a religious man.
-You can cross borders and search your opportunity in other place easily. There are always open doors for us.
-Are you optimistic?
-Yes, I am. I believe in believing. Without hope and trust in yourself you start your race in a position less than zero. You must believe. Believe in yourself; believe in your ideas; believe in your projects. If you don't believe, it's very difficult to reach something.
-Your message seems a coacher's one.
-I like coaching. It's something that I control and I'm good at this. I enjoy a lot. In fact, a prior must be a coach because he must talk to this community and cheer them during the bad moments.
-Who's your favourite coacher?
-It's impossible to choose. I like Gandhi, because he carried all his nation to freedom; Martin Luther King, because he was proud of his people and his culture and fought for them; Nelson Mandela, because he learnt how to live in peace and respect with her own oppressor and broke the chains that joined with him when he had his chance to do it and Pere Casaldàliga, because he fights for keeping the native cultures of Mato Grosso away from speculators and multinational enterprises.
-If you had to choose only one...
-Charles Chaplin.
-Charles Chaplin?
-Yes. Charles Chaplin put cinema on the top of art with his mute films. Expressing feelings without voice is very difficult. He was a master of communication, a genius of interpretation and a critic voice in front of injustice and abuse of power. He suffered a terrible prosecution because of McCarthyism and he had to exile. He was an uncomfortable voice in a world that only wanted to listen to comfortable and beautiful messages.
-You think that we are not prepared to listen to bad things, don't you?
-Yes, I do. People want to buy happiness and this is something that you can’t buy with money.
-Why do you think people are not happy enough?
-I don't know but I can see that, in general, people don't appreciate little things which are the most important: a sunrise, a good moment with your family or your friends, an afternoon playing with your children...
-How can we fight against this?
-Every person has his/her own vision of life. It's difficult to say a good advice for everybody but I can say what I do and I enjoy my life day and night, perhaps, this is the reason I'm a cheerleader. I want to share my happiness with the rest of the world.
-How is possible to change a society?
-You mustn't change a society. Society must change by itself. The main reason of democratic societies is to respect all the opinions and to create a lifestyle accepted or proposed by the majority. Societies are formed by people and we are talking about human souls with feelings, fears and dreams. People change and evolve in an effort to construct better societies. The most part of a community is always against violence, against war, against impositions because they want peace, respect, and opportunities for everyone and an acceptable level of life. The problem is when there's a minority that has a lot of economical and politic power and attacks the majority for personal benefits. This is called tyranny. Our world is now full of examples about it and I think that religious estates must have an important role to fight against these tyrannies but I have lots of doubts about they were interested in.
-How do you feel being a member of The Beans?
-It has been a fantastic experience. I'm very shy and when I was a new member of The Bond's family I feel a little strange but it was a feeling of five minutes. They're very good people and you can trust on them. This is very important.
-How is a normal day with The Beans?
-We haven't got normal days. Every day is a new day and a little treasure that you must enjoy.
-How long have you been studying English?
-Since the Primary School. I speak Latin, Greek and Danish. English has a different phonetic. It's not easy.
-What can you explain about your life with The Beans?
-The most important for us is travelling and knowing new cultures because we believe in diversity, respect and tolerance. These are the columns of the church, too.
-Which is your best memory with the family?
-It's difficult to choose only one but I remember when we visited Sister Mary Clarence in San Francisco. It was a joyful day.
-You like reading, don't you. Recommend me a book...
-Holy Bible, of course. It’s a book where you can find all the human thinking.
-Which is your philosophy in life?
-Albert Einstein said that "creativity is intelligence having fun". I like this quote and I would add that you must be out of your own.
-Imagine that you must change your job. What will you choose as a new one and why?
-I would like to be a postman because it's similar to a prior.
-Really?
-A postman carries news and words from one place to another. A prior carries the God's word from one place to another. It's the same.
-Thank you very much, Antonio Bond.
-You're welcome.
Even if I knew that tomorrow the world would go to pieces,
I would still plant my apple tree.
Martin Luther
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