Reminds me of a German friend and former colleague here in Germany. Anna studied for a semester, maybe a year, at a college in the Midwest. So not a 2 week USA tourist experience but long enough for immersion in the culture. Wasn't very happy there, didn't hate it. Watching German television one evening with Anna and her husband. A "soci…
Reminds me of a German friend and former colleague here in Germany. Anna studied for a semester, maybe a year, at a college in the Midwest. So not a 2 week USA tourist experience but long enough for immersion in the culture. Wasn't very happy there, didn't hate it. Watching German television one evening with Anna and her husband. A "social documentary" about a slice of life in the States. A black woman in some American ghetto tells the interviewer that her life has been a train wreck, like forever. Multiple arrests, kids taken from her, drug habit the whole gamut. She looks into the camera and says "But nobody made me do all those things. I did it because I wanted to. No one but myself to blame." I glance over at Anna. She has a strange kind of half-smile, not amused, not disturbed, different. It was admiration. She says "No German would ever say something like that. No matter what kind of problem they have, large or small, no matter if financially comfortable or strapped ... it is ALWAYS the fault of some German government agency, bureaucratic decision-makers. NEVER will they take responsibility for their problems or misfortune." What else to expect in a country where turbo-socialism has run wild?
Reminds me of a German friend and former colleague here in Germany. Anna studied for a semester, maybe a year, at a college in the Midwest. So not a 2 week USA tourist experience but long enough for immersion in the culture. Wasn't very happy there, didn't hate it. Watching German television one evening with Anna and her husband. A "social documentary" about a slice of life in the States. A black woman in some American ghetto tells the interviewer that her life has been a train wreck, like forever. Multiple arrests, kids taken from her, drug habit the whole gamut. She looks into the camera and says "But nobody made me do all those things. I did it because I wanted to. No one but myself to blame." I glance over at Anna. She has a strange kind of half-smile, not amused, not disturbed, different. It was admiration. She says "No German would ever say something like that. No matter what kind of problem they have, large or small, no matter if financially comfortable or strapped ... it is ALWAYS the fault of some German government agency, bureaucratic decision-makers. NEVER will they take responsibility for their problems or misfortune." What else to expect in a country where turbo-socialism has run wild?