Last month, I spent ten days in Germany and Austria...I wanted to attend some Christmas Markets, see the Alps in winter, and visit some friends in Munich.
Let me say at the outset here that I love this country, and I wouldn't consider living anywhere else. But every time I visit my ancestral homeland, I am struck by the stark differences in behavior and conduct over there. For example...
At gas stations, you pump your gas, then go inside and tell the cashier which pump you used, and you pay for your purchase. There is no pay-at-the-pump or pay-first required, not even a way to do so if you wanted to. Yes, there are signs advising that the pumps are under video surveillance, but the real reason nobody drives off without paying, even with very high fuel prices, is simply that Germans don't do that sort of thing.
When jewelry stores close for the day there, they don't remove merchandise from their windows, nor do they have bars or grates covering the front of the store. Rolexes, Breitlings, Omegas, etc., are right there, behind a pane of glass...but nobody does a smash-and-grab, because Germans don't do that sort of thing.
On this trip, I drove more than 900 miles in both countries...and didn't see any trash or debris on the sides of the roads. Public bathrooms are spotless..the cleanliness is remarkable.
Speaking of driving...they drive on the right and pass on the left, period. And where there are speed limits, they obey them strictly. There's no right-on-red permitted, and they come to a stop at stop signs and red lights.
The real shocker to me is in the area of public safety and crime. Yes, of course there are criminals there, but violent crime is a fraction of what it is here. For example: Baltimore, a city of 585,000 people, recorded 334 homicides for 2022...Germany, with a population of 83,000,000, had 257 murder victims nationwide in all of 2021.
As I said, I love my country...but man, we could learn a lot from our European friends...
Let me say at the outset here that I love this country, and I wouldn't consider living anywhere else. But every time I visit my ancestral homeland, I am struck by the stark differences in behavior and conduct over there. For example...
At gas stations, you pump your gas, then go inside and tell the cashier which pump you used, and you pay for your purchase. There is no pay-at-the-pump or pay-first required, not even a way to do so if you wanted to. Yes, there are signs advising that the pumps are under video surveillance, but the real reason nobody drives off without paying, even with very high fuel prices, is simply that Germans don't do that sort of thing.
When jewelry stores close for the day there, they don't remove merchandise from their windows, nor do they have bars or grates covering the front of the store. Rolexes, Breitlings, Omegas, etc., are right there, behind a pane of glass...but nobody does a smash-and-grab, because Germans don't do that sort of thing.
On this trip, I drove more than 900 miles in both countries...and didn't see any trash or debris on the sides of the roads. Public bathrooms are spotless..the cleanliness is remarkable.
Speaking of driving...they drive on the right and pass on the left, period. And where there are speed limits, they obey them strictly. There's no right-on-red permitted, and they come to a stop at stop signs and red lights.
The real shocker to me is in the area of public safety and crime. Yes, of course there are criminals there, but violent crime is a fraction of what it is here. For example: Baltimore, a city of 585,000 people, recorded 334 homicides for 2022...Germany, with a population of 83,000,000, had 257 murder victims nationwide in all of 2021.
As I said, I love my country...but man, we could learn a lot from our European friends...
