People...

When was the last time you seriously questioned the wellbeing of some of your fellow citizens?
This week alone triggered at least two such moods in me... But let's start at the beginning, shall we?
I had a gorgeous, gorgeous Easter weekend which I spent at home together with my whole family. In full relax mode, I returned to Jena and enjoyed two more days off work and free to spend doing whatever I felt inclined to do. And so, what would be more appropriate than spending Easter monday in the great outdoors and enjoying the sunny day with a bike tour? And what better way to finish that off than a nice iced chocolated? Nothing to say about that, right?

But what would you say if you were to end that day with the disturbing experience of witnessing a mob of 30 masked people attacking a group of 5-6 people who seem to be doing nothing but eating ice cream in the late afternoon? Of course, the matter is not as easy and uncomplicated as it might seem. There was actually a demonstration of about 30-40 people (my estimation, that is) and they were walking towards one of Jena's central squares (Holzmarkt) holding a banner saying something like "If you beat up people, we will beat you up!". Now, not knowing anything about the things that happened here over Easter, I was totally clueless as to what that was about. And I wouldn't in my wildest dreams have imagined what happened next: at the sight of a small group of obviously (judging by their appearance) right-wing youths the demonstration broke up and the protesters came charging towards the little group - across the road and with a frightening speed. I heard a few glass bottles smashing on the ground while they were approaching the square, which was at that time heavily populated by late-afternoon ice cream aficionados. As soon as the apparently left-wing demonstrators reached the little group, they started beating them up and actually managed to have one of them going down. At that point the crowd realized what was going on and panic erupted. I tried to get away from the spot as well and found out that was easier said than done. When I looked back, some of the chairs and tables of the ice café were turned upside down and people had fled the area except for the left- and right-wing youths. There were shards of shattered beer bottles everywhere and I even saw a big fire cracker being thrown towards bystanders (who had actually sat in the very square just half a minute before). But the most amazing thing? Just as fast as it started, the whole protester crowd vanished and disappeared just 1-2 minutes thereafter, leaving behind shards, overthrown furniture and a bewildered crowd. Turns out that there have been violent clashes between right- and left-extremist groups since Good Friday. They reached their climax with a fight late Tuesday, which left at least one leftist with heavy head injuries requiring him to be put in hospital up to this day.
You know, I just DON'T GET IT!!! What is it about these extremist viewpoints? Neither one of them is in any way humane. As this country's history has provided enough evidence for, neither one of them is desirable or values human dignity. Certainly, right extremists have shown us the worst people are capable off and I cannot at all fathom the mere motives that drive people to believe in the righteousness of the Holocaust and racial discrimination and genocide. But what better is the left extremist perspective? A good friend of mine found the perfect description: political opinions are like a circle - the closer you get to the two extremes, the closer these get. And then, what????

And the second incident? Imagine some drunk and drugged up kids, age 12-17, when you are on your way home in a poorer neighborhood. I knew that also happened here, but it still was a shocker to see drugged-up 12-year-olds at 10:30 p.m. all by themselves and not even missed by their parents. What's up with those people? Why don't they care enough for their offspring to get them inside and show them WHAT life is about other than booze and drugs?

Well, for today I'll be off to take some sleep over that. Tomorrow is a day full of first aid workshops. Maybe I can put that to some use sooner or later. Hopefully not, but I'd better be prepared.

Hanna