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June 26, 2003
German restrooms vs. American nihilism.
My parents went to Germany last year. One thing they related to me was how clean everything was. They observed that all the bed and breakfasts they stayed in appeared to have been painted the day before. Also, all of the public bathrooms around the country seemed spotless. They even went to an Octoberfest with public bathrooms and they too were immaculate. Why were all of their bathrooms and streets so clean? What does that take?Across the pond in America. You'd be lucky to find ANY clean public bathrooms. So why are the bathrooms in Germany so much cleaner? Maybe half their country is employed by the government to keep them clean. I doubt that though. I think the only logical answer is that the Germans keep them clean. When a German uses one of the bathrooms, he leaves it clean. As strange as it seems to us, I might also assume some Germans leave the bathrooms they use cleaner than when they got there. Why? Because there are plenty of tourists in Germany who probably are not as clean as the Germans. This begs the real question, why are the German's so much more concerned with their public bathrooms. The only answer I believe is community. They must have a much greater sense of community. Its also possible that, its not that the German's have so great a sense of community, as American's have so poor a sense of community. There is no community. Only the individual, who is more important than any other individual. I don't leave public bathrooms cleaner than I find them. I don't think I leave them dirtier either. How do they get so dirty? Why don't people care? Here again we look for 'the cause'. It seems like this is an area where behavior is learned and bolstered over time. Its not any one person or thing, but a long period of people (Americans) not caring for one another building on that ethos until it becomes the rule rather than the exception. Why should I spend my valuable time and effort to leave this restroom clean when the last person didn't. Its not my fault, every person before me is to blame. I am the only person I can trust. No one will help me get to the top but me. I'm an American.
Posted by wonko at June 26, 2003 12:16 PM
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Comments
That's the "American Dream"
Posted by: obigabu at June 26, 2003 06:06 PM
I actually had written that as the last line of the blog, but decided it might appear too extremest. However, I agree.
Posted by: Wonko at June 27, 2003 11:44 AM
Echos of RATM, "Know Your Enemy"...
Posted by: David Pisoni at June 28, 2003 12:13 PM
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