Interview with Kevin Buddaeus
If my daughter remembers me, that’s already enough. If people remember me as being a nice person, that’s all I could want.
Kevin Buddaeus is a gem of a person. I can say that without meeting him. Our path crossed here at medium and I have never seen him not offering a helping hand be it as a friend or an editor of this beautiful community illumination. He has made me very famous on Twitter by adding his two cents to my work and asking others to follow me.
Kevin is a very sharp, sweet, and inspirational person for me. He writes amazingly well and his words of wisdom on different facets of life fill me with positivity and courage in life. I like to read everything he writes on from tech to relationships to life. He is very active on slack too and always has a solution for everything. Where do we find such genuine souls in today’s world?
I would say if you haven’t interacted with him as of now then you must because you are going to die laughing at some of your miseries and he would get you back to your feet with his hilarious responses. I am blessed to have him as my friend and I am proud of him. I hope you rejoice reading his answers as much as I have rejoiced.
- Where do you belong to? Is there anything you would like to change about the place you belong to?
I think I belong right where I am right now. Japan, together with my wife and daughter. Would I like to change that? Well, in some aspects, life in Germany would be much better. More money, more options for education of my daughter, more places to go cheaply and have fun. Free healthcare. I could name a lot of advantages. But it’s also colder, we don’t have sunny beaches there and life gets more stressful at times. I think the grass would always be greener on the other side of the fence. Difficult question.
2. What sets your soul on fire?
Uhm, if we’re talking about passion, then it’s music and fiction. Also finding problems that can’t be answered. I’m interested in science and while most of how our world works can be explained with science by now, there are many questions that are still not answered. Things we can not answer because they defy all logic in the face of our current understanding.
Thinking about these things and trying to puzzle them together is what draws me into “the flow”, spending way too much time thinking about them without even noticing.
3. Which one is your favorite family memory and why?
I think most of my childhood memories fall into that frame, I simply feel like I have not cherished my childhood as much as I should have. Some day it all was over. Just like that. Think about it. You and your childhood friends one day met for the last time and none of you knew that it would be the last time.
4. Is there anyone in your life you could give your life for? If yes, why?
I’d be willing to give my life for my wife and daughter. I make sure that both are safe. And if I’m ever forced to give my life to save one of them, so be it. The other way around would hurt much more.
5. Do you pour love into self from time to time?
I hope so. I do a lot of stuff I like. Though I’d love to to so many more things. I just don’t have the time or funds to do them.
6. How often you observe the people near you?
All the time. I am naturally curious and observe everything around me. I want to see the logic in things and people. If someone says something or does something, my goal is to see how and why he or she acts in a certain way. Not on an emotional level. But on a logical level. I want to make sense of things. Safe to say that some people somehow manage to defy logic at all costs.
7. Why do you hope for? Does it change something within you or around you?
I’m not sure I understand. Why do I hope for? I hope because it’s what keeps me going. Even if things take a turn for the worse, there’s always hope that it’ll get better. Just like sunshine after a rainstorm. Just have to wait out for the sun to dry it up again.
8. How does it feel like being a woman to you?
I wish I knew. But I’m glad I’m not. Being a woman seems tough. So many drawbacks. So few advantages. Being a man is easy. And call me a lazy coward, but I’m glad I got the easy way.
9. What you would like us to remember you for?
Another good question. Some people would love to become a part of history, being remembered for one thing or the other. If my daughter remembers me, that’s already enough. If people remember me as being a nice person, that’s all I could want.
10. How would you describe your life?
Like a rollercoaster. An ordinary one. I have my ups and downs, but never witnessed any extremes as other people have to go through. Ordinary sunshine and rain.
11. What keeps you on your toes and how do you like to spend your time?
Knowledge, I guess. I like to learn new things and find questions to answers that pop up now and then. If people were less inclined to indulge in pitty parties and fighting over the same meaningless problems all the time, we would have more time to deal with really important things.
12. When life gives you a lemon what do you make out of it?
I probably think twice before taking it. Once I do, life will surely ask me to pay for it. Nothing is free.
13. What mystery of life you would like to have an answer for?
There are many mysteries we don’t yet have answers for. And all of them drive me crazy. And some might never be solved. Creepy.
14. How were you different five years ago from what you are today?
I was younger. But that’s it I think. I haven’t changed much. Oh, maybe. I wasn’t a father 5 years ago. In fact, I didn’t believe to ever be able to become a father back then. I felt like a kid. And kids shouldn’t have kids. But I grew out of it and got blessed with a beautiful little daughter. She brought a lot of additional sunshine with her.
15. What would you like to leave as your legacy? Is there any message you would like to communicate to us?
Stop wasting time with minuscule emotional problems. Stop hating people for their frickin’ skin color. Stop hating people because they’re different. All should be treated equally. All should have the same options. All should be able to become whatever they’d like to become. All should be able to afford life.
Seems so obvious. But it never happens. Another great mystery of life. Just that we know the answers to this one. People simply don’t act on them.
I hope that when my daughter is in her 20s or 30s, she’ll see better reports in the news than we do now. I hope her life won’t be dictated by problems and conflicts.
Kevin is an editor and writer for the ILLUMINATION and Polyglot Poetry publications. Follow him on Twitter and LinkedIn.