12/06/2025
“I fell into the black hole of television. I was twelve and all my friends from primary school went to different schools, and I didn’t fit in at my new school. I was alone, and watching television was the only place where I found comfort.
It sucked me up for my entire youth. It was an addiction. I kept getting stuck in one story after another and I couldn’t get out. I couldn’t talk to anyone, not even my parents. And there was no one around to wake me up and say, ‘Boy, what are you doing?’
I would have loved to have a career as a top athlete. I had a lot of talent for football, but instead of supporting me in that dream, my father introduced me to alcohol.
That phase of adolescence is so important; it determines the rest of your life. If you skip it, like I did, in a way you can’t repair that. I never did anything with my talents and I’ve always just been surviving. I have nothing to look back on with pride. And that’s terrible.
That’s why I’m here in the park, seven days a week, because I want to inspire people to live in the real world. That television was for me what the smartphone is today. Everyone should get rid of those damn phones. People walk around with their earbuds in, eyes glued to the screen, like some sort of zombies. You’re in the park, but you might as well stay at home, because you see nothing of the world around you. You’re stuck in that virtual world.
Kids who cycle past here every day see me playing football. I talk with them, or we play together. I always tell them: don’t lose your way, don’t believe that your phone is your friend. Because it’s not. Go outside, be around people, greet your neighbours, and look around you. Who knows, you might even see a rainbow.”
