Good By to the land of Rules...Hello to the Land of Excess and Censorship

Yes Germany has its rules. Rules that you have to respect. They work for this country.

The land of excess needs some work. A list of challenges:
1. Next time you shop for a car, size down.
2. Go to the Grocery store more frequently and buy less.
3. Buy as few packaged goods as you can. Take a look in your recycling (if you arent' doing that yet, get with it). Notice how much of your bin is being taken up by packaging.
4. Say no to plastic bags at the store. For Groceries use your own cloth bags. At Target/Wallmart just put the stuff back in the cart and put it in your car. Clearly the cashier won't stop putting one thing in every bag.
5. Stop storing things in the pantry. Don't buy things to store in the pantry.
6. Set a mileage goal on your car and stick to it. Make it a stretch that says find another way to get there.
7. Eat at home.
8. At Starbucks if you are going to sit inside or outside and drink your coffee, ask for a mug. What's the point of the paper cup if you are staying in.
9. Order 1/2 portions next time out. Most likely you don't eat everything they give you because they give you too much. Don't leave food on the plate.
10. Stop buying bottles of water. Use a filter!

Now a bit on Censorship. I remember one day in the Target Parking lot a couple years back. Marco was 4 or 5 and we were listening to one of his favorite Green Day songs on the Radio. He Says "Dad, they cut a word out of the song". "What word is that Marco". "Fuck" That word is a huge part of Rock and Roll. It happens to work well into the music. There are quite a few really good songs that don't get air play in the US because the artist uses profanity in the words. It's a shame. Not an issue here in Europe. Next is nakedness. Nakedness is part of culture here. Not in a sexual way, although that happens but in a "It's the human body" way. Because of that it's no big deal. When Marco and I would walk by the magazine stands or by the local photo studio I didn't see him snickering or craining his neck for a second look. I think we had one discussion of why you see it out in the open and that was it. End of story. Believe me if it was a big deal to him, he'd bring it up. And there was no way to hide it from him even if we wanted too.

It's a good life....
Dave