Many people compare my way of living to the fictional character ‘Forrest Gump’, brought to life by Tom Hanks’ Oscar-winning performance in 1994. That very year I laced my walking boots and set out to walk the distance to the Moon.

Today, almost fourteen years later, I’m still walking and I’ve covered almost 70,000 kilometres in 54 countries, starting with a long-distance walk from India to Spain (23.700 kilometres). All that I call my own does find its place in a small backpack, weighing less than ten kilograms.

But then, in a moment of utter craziness, my world came crashing down: On August 4 2006 a stalker tried to end my life in a bloody murder-attempt. I survived, badly injured, and spent the next six months in hospital and another four months in rehabilitation. While still in hospital life dealt me yet another blow and my fiancé died. I guess there's only so much a person can take. On that day I fell off the edge of the world and my coming back from that is painful and slow-going.

These defining moments have altered the course of my life indefinitely. As of now I’m still recovering and we’re working very hard to get me where I used to be. To give myself time to heal, access to me is very limited. For this I apologize.

After a fair period of healing and grieving I decided to utilize my experiences. I am the Goodwill Ambassador to the WEISSER RING ("White Ring"), Germany’s sole crime victim’s organization. The WEISSER RING has assisted hundreds of thousands of victims over the last thirty years, dispersing almost half-billion US-Dollars aiding victims and investing in crime-prevention and crime-related research.

 Still walking today, I meet with journalists, politicians and business leaders to get the message across: we must succeed in pacifying our societies, we need to overcome grievances peacefully, kids need to learn to solve differences without the use of force, we as a society need to cushion the impact of crime on the victim as soon as a crime occurs and, finally, we have to prevent crime - at any cost!

Thank you for visiting my homepage. Wherever your path may take you, I wish you a happy and content journey full of wonders and miracles. Live life to the fullest, let there be no wanting and, for goodness sake, give chance the darn best shot you’ve got!

Bert Simon