The Rules

One of my favorite things to do here in Weimar is just walk around and take in the atmosphere around town. When I first arrived in Germany, it seemed like this insurmountable obstacle that I spoke no German whatsoever, but now I kind of like it. I am sort of removed from certain aspects of the social contract. Did I make some giant mistake that might be interpreted as incredibly rude or distasteful if done by a local? Oh, never mind, I'm Foreign Guy; all is forgiven. I'm not saying I aspire to ignorance or anything, because I definitely plan on learning German at some point in case I ever return, I'm just saying that there is an unexpected upside to being from out of town.

One of the things I have a tendency to do while I take my strolls around is jaywalk. Crosswalks are slow here, and I do not understand why I should wait on a light to turn green when there are exactly zero cars anywhere in sight. Other times I will simply avoid the crosswalk altogether, crossing the street in places where it is not marked as okay to do so. I receive more thrill from this than I probably should.

And so, every time I jaywalk, I think to myself, "This town is so quaint, I bet the biggest legal problem around here is jaywalking." I then chuckle and remind myself how clever I am for coming up with this wonderful little tidbit. But today I had a realization: that can't be true, because Germans would never, ever jaywalk.

It's true. Every time I cross at an intersection where the little man on the light is still red, even if there are no cars to be seen, the German teen or woman or child standing next to me will hold their position, dutifully staring at the signal and waiting for the light to turn green. They do not take their eyes off of the signal, not even to give me a dirty look for breaking the rules. I don't know where this unshakeable respect for the rules comes from, but something about me really likes it.

I expect most people who know me will find that surprising. I have a well-deserved reputation for not liking rules all that much. Dad has always believed it's because I have a deep-seeded problem with authority. I don't really think that's it, though; it's more that I don't care to follow any rule that I think is stupid. And even then, if a stupid rule is explained to me in a way that makes me say, "Okay, I guess I see the point" I will begrudgingly acknowledge its usefulness and at the very least pretend to pay attention to it (I'm talking about you, Texas Nighttime Speed Limit). But seriously: I kind of like how seriously Germans take THE RULES.

Maybe it's because it adds immediate weight to their actions any time they defy these rules. How important does something have to be before a German will violate a state regulation to do it? Ask anybody who ever tried crossing the Berlin Wall. I'm not trying to get heavy-handed here or anything, it just seriously must mean something when a large group of German people gets upset about something to the point where they're willing to take a stand for it. I think that's pretty cool, and I respect it.

I'll probably keep jaywalking, though.