"Why aren't Germans patriotic?" (Great answer)

[DFW]

5. Here is a perfect example of the difference:

In December of 2000, we attended a sort of "meeting of the minds" gathering in South Carolina for the first time. The only requirement was that everyone there was required to participate. This is NOT a TED conference. If you're there, you take part. Period.

We raised our daughters bilingually, but they were born and raised in Germany, and still consider German their first language. At this conference, our elder daughter in particular was a little intimidated at being asked to participate in a few panels on her own at age 17. One of them bothered her in the extreme. It asked the participants to talk about who their heroes were. She was upset because being raised in post-war Germany, they had gone 180° from the Nazi idolizing of Teutonic heroes, and were taught that it was a bad concept in general. She was very upset at being asked to talk about her heroes after being raised in a culture that discouraged the concept altogether, and asked us what to do about it. We told her to say exactly what she had just told us--that she didn't really have any heroes per se, and here's why. She was still nervous, but agreed to say just that. She came to us after the panel, beaming, telling us that American kids on her panel were all fascinated by her completely fresh viewpoint on the concept and that she was the hit of her panel.

It doesn't have to get lost in the translation, but you DO have to translate it and explain it. Anyone who thinks theirs is the only way of looking at things lives in a very narrow world, indeed (and is in dire need of seeing the film "The Dead Poets Society&quot .

The taxes ARE a little crazy in Germany, and there are so many different ones, I can't keep track of them all. On the other hand, Germany DID find itself with something like a €40 billion surplus last year, and they were in the enviable position of arguing whether to give it back to the people who had paid it in, spend it themselves, or spend in ON themselves. Nice problem to have! It's not one many countries face these days,and nor will we, even if Trump blows up every school and hospital in the lower 48.