Und doch sollte der traditionelle sommerliche Freizeit-Exodus, den es in ganz Europa gibt, bejubelt werden, ist er doch ein wunderbares Beispiel dafür, wie gut es dem Durchschnittsbürger heute geht. Urlaubszeit ist Zeit für etwas Demut, weil wir nämlich Themen große öffentliche Aufmerksamkeit schenken dürfen, deren Betrachtung überhaupt erst möglich geworden ist, weil es jahrzehntelangen Frieden und ebenso langen technischen Fortschritt gibt.
Mein Freund Michael Cole schreibt monatlich eine Kolumne in der „The East Anglian Daily Times“, bestehend aus mehreren Gegenwartsbeobachtungen, oft in den historischen Kontext gesetzt. Zuletzt widmete er sich dem Aspekt, dass viele, vor allem auch eingewanderte Engländer mit ihrem (neuen) Heimatland hadern und unzufrieden sind. Was er davon hält und warum, wie ich meine, seine Analyse durchaus auch auf Österreich übertragen werden könnte, ist als Originaltext hier zu lesen:
This is a terrible country. It must be. I hear criticism of everything about Britain every day, often by people who have chosen to live here.
But on television, I see people who risk their lives to get here. They don’t want to live in Italy or France. They want to come here.
That cannot just be because of the English language and “benefits” on demand.
Could it have anything to do with our freedom to live in peace under the law, in a liberal society, expressing our views through a system of democracy that, while not perfect, is better than the others, as Winston Churchill said?
Past generations have fought epic battles to win those freedoms and protect them. Perhaps that’s the attraction, although some of those who arrive soon decide they prefer to live under their own legal system, maintaining their own customs and keeping British society at a distance.
The funny thing is that nobody is queuing to get into China or become a Russian citizen. Perhaps that’s because if you disagree with the government here, you don’t end up in prison or dead. And if a daughter falls in love with the wrong man, her father isn’t allowed to kill her.
It would do wonders for community relations in Britain if just one ethnic leader said this country is not such a bad place; that the British had been friendly and broadly welcoming and he and his family were rather glad that they’d come.
I once went to Westminster to receive an award for “Diversity” because the company I worked for employed people of 62 nationalities. An Indian woman spoke before me. She said she didn’t want to be tolerated as an immigrant; she wanted to be loved.
I said that tolerance was the most beautiful word in the English language, because intolerance was the ugliest. Love, like respect, must be earned. Most British people just want to live and let live. ”Let it be”, as the Beatles sang.
On our crowded island, of 66 million people and rising, tolerance and good manners put the civil in civilisation. The occasional “Thank you” helps too.