Achtung, Teil zwei
04:07 on Sunday, October 17, 2004 • 5 responses
As mentioned in my previous entry, Germans are renown for their industrial engineering, which often produces everyday technology which is simultaneously more advanced, safer, and easier to use. I used to think this was because Germans tend to appreciate a seamless integration of technology with life.
I couldn’t have been more wrong.
Underneath their stoic and perhaps austere demeanor, most Germans are, at their core, filled with reckless abandon. So when zipping down the autobahn at 220km/h (136mph), weaving in and out of traffic lanes to avoid vehicles crawling along at a 200km/h, advanced technology and structural integrity aren’t just aspects of modernity which one appreciates—they become existential imperatives.
This realization during my time in Germany has made me rethink my position on several key political issues in the states. More to the point—I don’t know that a national healthcare system is really in the best interest of American citizens. As advances in passenger protection safeguard Germans from their careless vehicular exploits, so too does their national healthcare system shield them from their self-destructive gastronomic tendencies.
Witness this item I found on a menu a few days ago: Pork collard stuffed with sausage meat, served on bacon cream sauce.
You don’t order that—not even once—unless angioplasties are free and available by the dozen. You just don’t.
Clearly, the inflatable balloon catheter used in an angioplasty is the coronary equivalent of a Mercedes-Benz airbag.
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