Germany

I spent a few days in Germany recently. Mostly in Munich and Berlin, so I cannot claim to have any extensive knowledge of the country or a wide experience of its people. What I can say is that to the man and woman, old and young, Germans seem sadly resigned to their lives. I saw very little joy or contentment, just people going about their lives as meticulously as they could. In a sense, I can understand after spending a few days there why the Holocaust was able to happen. The Germans are conformists. They want rules, they want to follow and conform. They want the surface to be pretty and ripple free. So if you have a leader who decides to take the wrong road, as long as the rules allow him to they will all follow.

The unfortunate thing is, I got the clear sense that not much has changed. They are still conforming, not challenging except within set boundaries, not driven by emotion, passion and not resistant to authority as many nations peoples are which brings a healthy balance called democracy.