Lighten up you all you angry people out there...

All you people do is insult each other and readily accept that you are correct and the others are wrong. As for the terrible cursing, it only means a lack of proper expression and helpless frustration.
My family and I left Germany in the fifties and tried to start a new life in the US.
The war was a horror for all; we are all victims of that ordeal.
There is 'no my people are better than your people', it's just archaic traditions that prevent assimilation.
Guest workers that don't want to fit in are their own worst enemies.
We have the same issues here in the US with Mexicans. No one wants to learn English and our government is bending over backwards to accomodate them.
The Afro-Americans (as they are called currently) have lived here since slavery days. They dress differently than the rest of society and amusingly the German teens wear the same silly cartoon inpiring clothing to be cool. If people would just fit in with the rest of society they would get better job offers, perhaps rethink their existence and actually be productive.
If I would run around here with Lederhosen I would be looked at as an idiot.
As for Germans being cold,especially the Northeners...well that's a fact.
So what... that's their privilege, after all they do live in Germany... don't they? French are thought of as arrogant by Americans. As for Germans no one really thinks of them actually here, which is a good thing I suppose, because Americans even though they buy German products, still think of only Bratwurst and Sauerkraut and Lederhosen. They probably think that assembly line workers wear these at work too.
The German language has 'Du' and 'Sie' and that automatically creates a distance between people regardless of origin.
I as a former German (if I can express myself as such) still have Heimatsgefuehle or being wehmuetig when seeing the beauty of the country and visiting relatives, albeit only for a limited time, yet I also feel like a stranger there.
I was brought up by an old fashioned German father that still lived like life was 50 years ago. When I saw how modern Germans expressed themselves, I realized the old fashioned ideals I had to grow up with as did others here in similar situations. So I too was not a German anymore and yet I was not accepted as an American either, not unlike some of you that had written about similar experiences in Germany and yes, the Germans have some bad manners such as almost walking right through you if you didn't see them and make room. Here we say excuse me first and an opening is made immediately. This is just one example of their rudeness that irks me.
The bottom line is that there is a prejudicial behavior everywhere and Germany is not better or worse than any other country. Please forgive my for jumping to different issues and ramblings, but I just had to get some things of my chest and put my two cents in too.
Live and let live and then do onto others before they do onto you!

Hans 27 Jan 2009, 02:59 - Report