It's a beautiful day in the neighborhood...
I was driving home from work on Friday when I got a glimpse of something that disturbed me. I saw hate graffiti sprayed on a billboard as I was going into my babysitters village as well as when I entered my village.
I guess I should give a little bit of back story. I live pretty close to a huge military air base here in Germany. There used to be two big airstrips here, but just recently they closed one of them. When they closed that airstrip, it made the one that still exists a lot busier and they had to change some flight patterns. Unfortunately, when they did that, it brought the flight plan right over my village. I can kinda understand my neighbors being pissed. It would be like someone picking up your house and putting it next to a runway. It can get pretty noisy. Trust me I know, I live in the village too. It's not like they are going overhead every hour or anything either.
The billboards said things like "No more US Airbase" or "US Aircrafts kill" and I felt really uncomfortable in my own "adopted" village. I'm sure that since Germany didn't support us in the war in Iraq, there are people that aren't crazy about us being in their country. But they are making a WHOLE LOTTA $$$ because of us being in their country. I just think about the jobs we provide for them. Our government has an agreement with the German government that we'll give a certain amount of our jobs to local nationals. Germany has a huge unemployment rate and if we packed up and left it would mean even more people would be out of work. I don't know any figures on how much we have out there in government contracts and jobs, but I know we are paying a lot of money to have that airfield and all the jobs that go with it. I know my landlord is getting 900 euros (about $1200) a month rent from us and my babysitter is getting 350 (about $450) euros a month and that's all thanks to the United States. There are a lot of Americans doing the exact same thing in this same area. So why would they want us to leave? I'm sure it's just a minority of Germans in this area that are really pissed at us, so I don't want to say "all" of my neighbors are ready to lynch us. But it makes me uncomfortable.
I've never been a minority. I've never lived anywhere where there is animosity towards my country. This time for me in Germany has been an eye opener. I, as probably many Americans, have no idea what the rest of the world is like, or how what we do affects them. We're pretty much isolationists. Here in Germany people speak 4 or more languages. I was actually embarrassed by that not too long ago. I had a man come up to me on the street (he was an older man) as first asked me if I spoke German, I had to say nein (no). Then he said...Sprecken se Italian?, Spanish?, I had to say nein to all of them. So he tried to sputter out some garbled English just so we could communicate. I felt like a dumb American. I took French in highschool, but like lots of things, if you don't use it you lose it. And I haven't spoken French in 14 years. These people use it cause when you think about it, different countries here in Europe are like driving from state to state in the USA.
I just hope that things stay peaceful in my little village. There were some people demonstrating in front of our military installations during the anniversary of the war, but things have settled back down. (except for the graffiti) Can't we all just get along??
I guess I should give a little bit of back story. I live pretty close to a huge military air base here in Germany. There used to be two big airstrips here, but just recently they closed one of them. When they closed that airstrip, it made the one that still exists a lot busier and they had to change some flight patterns. Unfortunately, when they did that, it brought the flight plan right over my village. I can kinda understand my neighbors being pissed. It would be like someone picking up your house and putting it next to a runway. It can get pretty noisy. Trust me I know, I live in the village too. It's not like they are going overhead every hour or anything either.
The billboards said things like "No more US Airbase" or "US Aircrafts kill" and I felt really uncomfortable in my own "adopted" village. I'm sure that since Germany didn't support us in the war in Iraq, there are people that aren't crazy about us being in their country. But they are making a WHOLE LOTTA $$$ because of us being in their country. I just think about the jobs we provide for them. Our government has an agreement with the German government that we'll give a certain amount of our jobs to local nationals. Germany has a huge unemployment rate and if we packed up and left it would mean even more people would be out of work. I don't know any figures on how much we have out there in government contracts and jobs, but I know we are paying a lot of money to have that airfield and all the jobs that go with it. I know my landlord is getting 900 euros (about $1200) a month rent from us and my babysitter is getting 350 (about $450) euros a month and that's all thanks to the United States. There are a lot of Americans doing the exact same thing in this same area. So why would they want us to leave? I'm sure it's just a minority of Germans in this area that are really pissed at us, so I don't want to say "all" of my neighbors are ready to lynch us. But it makes me uncomfortable.
I've never been a minority. I've never lived anywhere where there is animosity towards my country. This time for me in Germany has been an eye opener. I, as probably many Americans, have no idea what the rest of the world is like, or how what we do affects them. We're pretty much isolationists. Here in Germany people speak 4 or more languages. I was actually embarrassed by that not too long ago. I had a man come up to me on the street (he was an older man) as first asked me if I spoke German, I had to say nein (no). Then he said...Sprecken se Italian?, Spanish?, I had to say nein to all of them. So he tried to sputter out some garbled English just so we could communicate. I felt like a dumb American. I took French in highschool, but like lots of things, if you don't use it you lose it. And I haven't spoken French in 14 years. These people use it cause when you think about it, different countries here in Europe are like driving from state to state in the USA.
I just hope that things stay peaceful in my little village. There were some people demonstrating in front of our military installations during the anniversary of the war, but things have settled back down. (except for the graffiti) Can't we all just get along??
posted by Brandi at
Saturday, March 25, 2006
4 Comments:
You know, I guess in a weird way, it's freedom of speech. That is an American virtue to the core, so I can't condem it. I just don't like knowing that people don't want us here. There was a time where people welcomed us here, but "somebody in power" ruined it for us.
By
Brandi, at 12:26 AM
Man.......what is the world coming to?
By
Anonymous, at 2:32 AM
I know what you mean about the languages. Once I get this degree finished and I move to Springfield, I would like to take Spanish classes again. I would like to be fluent in at least one other language.
As Americans, and especially those of us in the Midwest, we get spoiled b/c we aren't forced to interact with other cultures.
By
The Big Fat Project Management Team, at 10:35 AM
That is so true Keoka. We, for the most part, don't have to learn another language (unless we live closer to the Mexican border). We are the only culture that we know. And it is so different here. I just wish I wasn't here during a war.
By
Brandi, at 12:01 PM
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