Andrew

Better late than never, finally a post on Andrew's visit! He was here just after Easter, a much needed respite from the frantic parish life he leads in Concordia, MO. The weather was near perfect - he even asked at one point if we ever had clouds in Germany. Turns out the summer weather came in April and May, and our spring weather has descended in July. But back to Andrew...he got a good feel for the University city that Tübingen is, got to explore all the old cobblestone streets, take a ride on the stocherkahn boats, take a long hike with Jonathan and see the "haree coos", oh, and he had plenty of opportunity to sample some of Germany's finest beverages here at our local brewery! The Maibock was one to remember, as we sat outside on his last night here, alongside the Neckar River, savoring both the conversation and the beer.
We also did some exploring with the eldest Kennell sibling. First, to the Black Forest where we enjoyed a beautifully sunny day and a tour of a renowned farmhouse museum. We made a stop in Freudenstadt on the way, and dined on Schnitzel and Kartoffeln after seeing the L-shaped church that was built on the corner of the market square. The farmhouse museum proved to be a real learning experience, at least for us city kids! Jonathan took lots of pictures and reminisced about his days on the family farm growing up. We even got to sample local cuisine there: Black Forest Cherry Torte. Mmmmmmm.... Lots of souvenirs for sale there, and the only regret was that we didn't buy one of the hats that Andrew and Jonathan tried on here!
Our other adventure came in Konstanz, which sits between Germany and Switzerland on the Bodensee. On the other side of the Bodensee is Austria, though we didn't make it that far in our day there. Konstanz is a gorgeous lake town with a great deal of Reformation history. It was there that Jan Hus was burned at the stake, and there that the Swiss Reformation took hold. On the outskirts of Konstanz is a small island famous for its flowers - the Insel Mainau. We were there at the height of tulip season, and the colors were spectacular! We had a lovely day there, and even made it over the Swiss border for a few photos.
Andrew was our first of many visitors over the last few months, and what a joy and encouragement his visit was to us. The conversation and the laughs flowed as easily as the German beer. Our place didn't feel the same after he left...we're already looking forward to his next visit.

Spawning Tragedy

With this post I’m doing something new on this blog, which may be a bit risky. Our original and enduring intent with Deutsche Gedanken is a simply way for our distant friends and family to sort of check in on us, and have a little peek into our lives. Most of the posts are light-hearted, what Minnesotans would refer to as “visiting.” Here I am throwing out something weightier, something heavier than I care to consider. I’m not a blogger; I hardly ever read blogs and don’t intend to make this blog a cog in an unending electronic discussion forum. I write what I write, because I was struck, deeply though from afar, and I wish to give these thoughts some voice after letting them settle for some weeks now. If this all backfires, I’ll go back to the standard “visiting.”
I believe that the massacre at Virginia Tech has been described as something of a national tragedy, a description likely meant to accent its magnitude and horror.
How did this happen? Where did it go? What does this mean now?
I’m not sure that I or anyone can answer the question, “How did this – how could this happen?” with absolute specificity. I can say that I observed where it went with absolute disgust. Someone, who shall here remain nameless in the hope that he shall be forgotten, takes the lives of 32 people, who were doing nothing more than going about the given courses of their given day. Killed them for no other reason than that they happened to be in a wrong place that he was creating at that time. No act of self-defense, no momentary overflow of boiling rage can claim this tragedy. I fear here that we are faced with a pre-meditated attempt at Stardom.
What sickens me is that this someone got exactly what he wanted. He not only had his horrific way on his campus, but managed to get his name in lights. The star, the self-made “outcast” now in the limelight, he had the media wrapped around his bloody little finger and hopping to his tune in the weeks to follow. Where this went is sick. He makes a video tape and writes some disjointed thoughts and mails them where he knows they’ll be put in lights. How can the media in good conscience (has it a conscience?) gratify a killer in his homicidal wish? How? But he got what he wanted; he got his face on the front of every newspaper in America and in the western world, he diplomaless English major got his writing published. The self-made loner was made a star.
That’s where it went: media and mass murderer hand-in-hand.
Write how they would, speak how they might, there is in my mind no hindering the true colors of what happened here. Words like “tragedy,” “horror,” “grief,” and the like got used over and over again. And with every word he got just what he wanted. There can only have been two thoughts in the mind of NBC as they got his bomb in the mail. “We shouldn’t publish this – that’s exactly what he would want us to do.” “We’ve got the story before anybody else. Go with it!” The second thought obviously won out, and when NBC picked up the tune, the rest of the media had to rap along. No front page or headline would sell next to the pictures and publications of the bloody star.
So what do we, the public see in the next weeks: his face, his photos, bits of his video, his words, and body bags.
What I unfortunately saw of him makes me then wonder about my first question: “How did this happen?” These aren’t just some snapshots, no sober testimonial. The thing that strikes me is that he posing, often smiling. It’s like he’s on TV. One might think him prophetic if the media system weren’t so predictable. And then I see what he writes. Not all of it, but a good bit of it bears striking resemblance to lyrics. I’ll admit that I haven’t followed the story (I hardly follow “the news” at all), and so perhaps the following inquiry has already been answered. I would be interested to know what CDs he listened to – what was on his ipod. What DVDs were in his collection? He was an English major – what did he like to read? Where was he surfing on the internet? Writing lyrics and posing for video media are not naturally occurring human behaviors. They must be learned. We see evidence of them here in this tragedy. I would like to know where he got them.
My cynical side thinks that it works something like this. A kid grows up in the midst of an ever-growing sea of crap that just about any person in the world can now get their hands on. And part of the crap is violence that is not only explicit and bloody, but glamorized. I’m no first hand expert, but I would challenge anyone to make a case that the rap industry as we now know it could survive were the themes of drugs, violence and illicit sex extracted from its lyrics. Those themes are glamorized and money is made, as it is then also in Hollywood, cable and network TV, and the video & computer game industry. Men of previous centuries only saw death with the naked eye, in non tune-in / tune-out situations. I can watch 20 deaths in an hour; I can cruise around with a massive bass system hearing homicide after homicide, dreaming of popularity in the process.
Money made by the entertainment media on one end, then “tragedy,” then money made by the “news” media on the other end. And what do we have at the end of the day? – another glam-violence superstar, with whom hundreds of angry young “outsiders” can now identify. And in my home country they are all lucky enough to be able to get their hands on lots of semi-automatic weapons.
It’s a sick cycle that spawns its own “tragedy.” It can’t live without its own offspring. It makes money.
So what does this mean now?
What many would likely label a “conservative,” I now find myself scratching my head about some things. For the most part I am for smaller, less invasive government. I tend to support the ideals on which America was founded. However, I am wondering if the game hasn’t changed, somewhat, since the founding of our country. The time of America’s founding came at the end of long social and political struggles in Europe. It came at the end of ages characterized by monarchy, oligarchy and wars between various kingdoms and empires. In this history citizens, the common man, had had precious little say. As I see it our country was founded at a time when the common man needed protection from the ruler, be it his own ruler or other rulers. The primary danger to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness was unjust and unrepresentative government, be it that of America or a foreign power that threatened the same.
These were wise observations and deserve lasting attention. However, it seems to me that we are living in an age in which nation states are dissolving. Groups of people who identify with one another are no longer bound together by political borders. Though war never comes to an end, the wars of nation states, as we see with the “War on Terror,” may now be coming to at least a temporary end. Be it September 11th or any of the dozen or so mass shootings in America in the last decade, I no longer think of my government or a foreign government as the greatest threat to my life, my liberty, and my pursuit of happiness. In my opinion the greatest threat to all of these is perhaps the nameless person next too me. A person who enjoys the same “freedom” that I do, who can get his hands on anything and everything in the world, including glamorous dreams of stardom made possible by a society that glamorizes violence – a guy next to me who in his “freedom” can get his hands on enough guns to kill 32 people or more.
The Virginia Tech massacre leaves me at a loss, not only because of where it went and where it may have come from. It leaves me at something of a loss, because I’m not sure where to go. It tells me that history may be taking something of a new turn (something I generally do not believe about history). The greatest threat to my life, ironically to my liberty, and the pursuit of my happiness may very well be the “free” individual next to me.

I’m still thinking. Feel free to help me if you like.

The Waves on the Dan-ube

Right after Andrew left Daniel arrived. Hospitality had not yet run out in our apartment and Dan got a Torte specially made for him, the famed “Donau Wellen” (The Waves on the Danube), with which he here poses as happily as he will pose for any picture. So he came, he ate all our food, he drank all my beer, and then it was about time for him to leave. The visits are always too short for everyone’s liking, but we enjoyed the time we had – as always. Glad that he made the trip.
Dan managed to take in a bit of our fair city and this the land where the Schwaben live. He enjoyed Stocherkann ride on Neckar, found a beer garden or two, and bought delicious chocolate Truffles as a gift to take back to the States, which he was kind enough to forget at our place (and we were kind enough to eat). In the course of his ventures he managed to take in 4 castles and a palace. Two of these he really had to work for on an 8 hour hike along the hills of the Schwabian Alb above the Danube west of Sigmaringen. We hope his legs are now working again.
We’ll look forward to his next visit, but think fondly on him in the meantime as he, from Gunderson Lutheran Hospital, helps the good citizens of LaCrosse, WI with much of what they medically need to support this body and life.
We’re quite proud of “Dr. Dan.” In the words of Tommy Boy (and as something of a nagging reminder to myself): “Lots of people go to school for eight years, Richard.” “Yeah, they’re called ‘Doctors.’”