A Different Mentality

A philosopher sitting near a crossroad. A pedestrian walks up to him and enquires: "Please tell me, what are the people like in that village over there?" The philosopher answers: "What are the people like in your village?" Reply: "They are helpful, honest, hospitable folks with dignity and respect." The philosopher: "I am happy to advise you you will discover that the citizens of that village over there are just like that." A little while later another man arrives and asks the same question. The philosopher inquirers as before: "What are the people like in your village?" This time the answer is different: "They are thieves, thugs, liars, hostile and have neither dignity nor respect." This time the philosopher says: "I am afraid you will discover that the inhabitants of that village over there are just the same." -                         This little anecdote reflects my attitude until I came here and got confronted with a mixture of envy, hostility, disrespect, lies, psychoterror as well as kindness, politeness, culture, dignity and respect. The majority of the children/teens here were either very young, approx. 10 years old, or born during/just after the revolution. Did this make them so angry, aggressive, unstable, seemingly without a trace of culture, respect? Quite a few houses that their family wouldn't be able to buy nowadays, were obtained by their grandparents at a low price from people leaving Tunisia (mainly French folks). Are persons from the neighbourhood trying to make us give up and sell our house at a low price? I've been asked several times: Are you going to leave? I know quite a few expats who did. They said this is no longer my country. I can't live with those ignorant people. Very sad, Expats are - though not appreciated - important for the economy. Yesterday I overheard a conversation: Why are these plants smashed (meaning mine behind a metal barrier) ? Answer: Ha Ha Ha, Alemania! The next day I discovered a couple of buckets of water had been thrown in addition onto my cactus plants, an attempt to make sure they all die/rot. Prior to that my blinds had been cut, just for fun. Flower plants have been cut or stolen before and were therefore replaced by cactus plants. These young men can do so with impunity, they are well aware of this! If you ask who did this? They either pretend youngsters whose names they don't know as they don't come from the direct neighbourhood, or small children who can not be held responsible. If policemen would take the trouble to come here and do some questioning, they would quickly get all the names of those concerned, as they are cowards. This may seem to be a trifle matter, but success (like driving us and other expats out off Tunisia) makes these guys feel strong, is that what the Revolution was for? A selfish elbow society, no respect, no empathy, unattractive for tourists? By the way, there are many complaints in Germany about this new generation of Tunisians intending to settle there, that they often show no respect and believe they can ignore the local laws and regulations. They give Tunisia a bad reputation, ignorant as they are. A German detective was asked how he would judge the co-operation with the North African police. He replied: "We like to solve problems quickly, they don't want to make any mistake and therefore work very slow. I've come to the conclusion that if you want to live here, it helps to have a thick skin and are at least a little bit deaf. And yes, you should be hopelessly optimistic.