he's bAAAaack

So, on the bus home today from the station, for some reason I started thinking about the whole concept of how we interact with strangers that we pass. As you are probably aware, Danes are somewhat known for being "reserved," and usually people point to the train/bus in order to prove their point. I don't find that to be a very valid argument, though: I don't know of many trains/buses where the expected norm is that you are friendly and open to talking to strangers. The same applies to airplanes, and that seems to be universal across cultures (as far as I can tell - please correct me if you have found this to not be true!). The concept of being outgoing in these contexts is much more of an individual thing, in my estimation.

However, I certainly see a uniqueness in Denmark as it regards friendliness to strangers when you're walking around the neighborhood, for example. Of course, by now I am quite used to this, but I passed 2-3 people on my short way home, and none of us really acknowledged each other - maybe briefly played the eye-contact-glance game, but no recognition. Now, I don't consider the Danes particularly cold people, and I'd like to think that I'm not either, but it's just a cultural difference that is very easy to habituate to: before you know it, you can become quite content in not acknowledging others.

In all honesty, that's not totally different from walking around SMU or Plano and such, but it just somehow feels different (I can imagine that in New York it's probably much worse than here!). It's probably something that you would have to "experience" for yourself - it's just a subtle lack of regard for other people as being present around us. I feel like there is a lot more wiggle room back home: I think of how we at Wesley have, on multiple occasions, discussed the need to be more "open" to those strangers around us while walking around on campus. What a world of difference a smile makes, and how strange would it seem here!

Suffice to say that "random acts of kindness" would be totally counter-cultural here, even more so than it might seem in the states. Food for thought (and action?) for me, it seems.

Now, Danes when they are behind closed doors, snug in their houses with friends and loved ones...you'll have to come to Denmark for that ;-) (I don't think you can really generalize that as easily, anyway).