The Invention of Slowness
To me, villages have a ghostly atmosphere. Maybe it's because due to an average age of 60 everything seems to move so much slower than in Berlin and for some reason I connect slowness with ghosts. Also- i guess- the evil side of me
admits the thought that conservative slowness and the lack of innovation which can be found in villages is the cause of a society's downfall. I'm just being honest. I know it's superficial generalising but I'm honest enough to say that I catch myself thinking how primitive some of the conversations seem to me, how narrow people's horizon because their doorstep ends after a few 100m and they look at strangers suspiciously and Heidi Klum's new baby (or the neighbour's new husband) is much more interesting to talk about than the failed referendum in France or Angela Merkel's newest political enlightment. On the other side it's quite natural for people to be concerned with their closer enviroment, in former times all a human being was concerned about was the daily food, a proper hut or cave to live in and peace in the community.. although.. that necessarily leads me to the obvious conclusion that now- welcome to the 21st century- we should be more sophisticated and the fact that we are globally concerned is a sign of sophistication. By the way: where does discrimination start? I'm sure some people who read this would call my provocative comments on villages discrimination and will leave their hateful comments here.. let me just say: It's not! I know there is the odd exception! =)
There's one thing I admit though: I've never seen such a sweet tradition as "advent windows" in a big city as Berlin: People gather around some family's window somewhere in the village- each night a different place- and the hosts hand around biscuits and tea and read some kind of funny story to their little "audience" or sing together.. great idea and what's even better: it really doesn't have anything to do with the church! It's pure let's-get-together-all-23-evenings-before-Christmas-idealism.
admits the thought that conservative slowness and the lack of innovation which can be found in villages is the cause of a society's downfall. I'm just being honest. I know it's superficial generalising but I'm honest enough to say that I catch myself thinking how primitive some of the conversations seem to me, how narrow people's horizon because their doorstep ends after a few 100m and they look at strangers suspiciously and Heidi Klum's new baby (or the neighbour's new husband) is much more interesting to talk about than the failed referendum in France or Angela Merkel's newest political enlightment. On the other side it's quite natural for people to be concerned with their closer enviroment, in former times all a human being was concerned about was the daily food, a proper hut or cave to live in and peace in the community.. although.. that necessarily leads me to the obvious conclusion that now- welcome to the 21st century- we should be more sophisticated and the fact that we are globally concerned is a sign of sophistication. By the way: where does discrimination start? I'm sure some people who read this would call my provocative comments on villages discrimination and will leave their hateful comments here.. let me just say: It's not! I know there is the odd exception! =)There's one thing I admit though: I've never seen such a sweet tradition as "advent windows" in a big city as Berlin: People gather around some family's window somewhere in the village- each night a different place- and the hosts hand around biscuits and tea and read some kind of funny story to their little "audience" or sing together.. great idea and what's even better: it really doesn't have anything to do with the church! It's pure let's-get-together-all-23-evenings-before-Christmas-idealism.
posted by Silk_and_Velvet at 4:55 pm
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