This article was brought to you by an elderly couple yelling at each other for no reason.
Have fun reading my take on why Germans are always so super angry.
Find out by reading on!
If there´s a thing that Germans are better at than yelling at each other angrily I haven´t found it yet.
I´m German. You´ve probably caught on to that fact by now.
And I hate it.
My number one reason for hating being German is that we always seem to be angry. We´re always one wrong look away from punching you in the face.
And yes, I know that Americans and other Europeans (and as a matter of fact pretty much anyone not included in those two), can be very angry as well (Road Rage is probably something universal), but it just seems especially true for us Germans.
It‘s as if there´s a powder keg inside each and every one of us, just waiting to explode.
Maybe it´s a generational thing.
The younger the German, the slightly calmer the German.
That´s not an ancient Proverb or anything, it´s just something I´ve noticed. Teenagers seem to be the exception to that rule. Especially the males. Just two days ago I witnessed two male teenagers kicking each other for no reason.
Out of nowhere.
And it hadn´t even been the first time I´d seen that, but I guess that´s just teenagers being stupid.
To examine this question (why are Germans so angry) a little more, let´s go back to the elderly couple that inspired me to write this Article.
I was riding my bike back home from drum practice when I came across an elderly man who had parked his car smack dab in the middle of a muddy field.
In front of that car was an elderly woman, furiously screaming at her husband:
„DRIVE OUT OF THE MUD! I`M NOT STEPPING IN MUD TO GET INTO THE CAR!“
It wasn´t normal screaming either. It was why-did-you-shoot-me-in-the-leg-you-bastard type of screaming.
Actually, I´m making her out to be way more educated and coherent than she was, but what she actually said in the typically antisocial Rhineland slang doesn´t really translate well. Nor was it a coherent thought or sentence.
But, you know what?
I can kind of understand why that generation is yelling at each other.
You see, when you´re THAT old in Germany, it can only mean one thing.
You´ve probably lived through the second World War.
Or you´ve at least lived through the consequences.
I can kind of see why you would have to be yelling at each other during the second World War and after.
You wouldn´t get stuff otherwise!
That son of a witch wants to steal the coal from you?
Better yell at him.
But, Germany wasn´t really any better after that.
You see, pretty much our entire country went down the drain after Hitler had gotten his dirty little paws all over it.
Rebuilding never stopped and things didn´t really get better until the early 2000s.
And the GDR only made things worse.
Germany wasn´t really allowed to heal until I was born.
That might sound like an egocentric thing to say, but it´s true.
I was born in 1989, just a few short weeks before the wall finally fell – closing the last wound that was left by the second World War.
I think that also explains why the generation of my parents yells at each other all the time.
I‘ve heard stories of people eating bread soup on a regular basis in their youth.
You heat up some milk and throw in old, stale, bread.
Yummy!
There wasn´t really… much.
It seems to me that this wasn‘t really all that different for a lot of German families during the sixties and after.
And now we get to media!
To explain the lack of progress a little further, let me just tell you that I grew up on eighties shows such as Knight Rider, The A-Team, or MacGyver. The Anime Boom didn´t hit us until the late 90s when Pokemon pretty much took over the world.
Yes, even we couldn´t miss Pokemon.
We were (and still pretty much are in some regards… internet, I look at you!) ten years behind.
That might explain why I get agitated so easily.
Things didn´t move the way they were supposed to and I could subconsciously feel that.
Well, and my parents setting a bad example didn´t help either.
But!
There´s a difference for my Generation. We were constantly told that things were getting better.
It was a special time. You could feel it in the air.
There was some kind of electric surge going through the entire country, changing it wholesale.
To use some stupid term I don´t like: Germany was finally woke.
Maybe that´s why the rage is finally subsiding for younger generations.
I don´t mind that. I don´t want to punch people in the face.
But, don´t you dare try steal my coal!
Are people in your country angry all the time, too?
Tell me in the comments.
Feel free to share my anger management class with your friends.
I‘ll see you next Sunday for another exciting dose of whatever.
Have a great weekend!