Britta's Letters from her life divided between city-life in German's capital Berlin and life in a Bavarian village

Tuesday 15 August 2017

I Feel Over-Protected!


Dear You, 
in these political hot times it might sound VERY strange to complain "I feel overprotected!" - but I do, in Germany more and more. The "Jugendwahn" now leads to infantilism - and people are treated like half-wits... 

Look at this: 



Speechless... (I just see: it is difficult to read - though: in three languages...). It is a detailed manual how to put on your tights/ pantyhose). 

I am inclined to write a sarcastic Thank-You-letter.  

"Dear Sir, 
thank you oh so much for your help to put on this enigmatic garment! 
Without your instructions I would still be standing in my master's bedroom, vulnerable, freezing, all up in tears! 
"How", I would ask myself, "how will I ever be able to manage this?" 
A thousand thanks! 
A deeply contented customer. 

PS: Might I ask your permission to offer seminars and tutorials on this delicate subject? 

On Facebook I found this (sorry, do not know who did it or where it came from):   





19 comments:

  1. Replies
    1. Thank you, Louise! I am glad to see you here! (And hopefully in London soon? I still do not know whether we come near it on our narrow boat-trip).

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  2. I would say treated like idiots rather than over-protected.

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    1. Isn't that (almost) the same, Rachel?

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    2. My comment went by my mistake down to the end of the comment page. :-)

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  3. To quote Lucy, "Arrrggghhh." Or, did Charlie say that?

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    1. I kove Lucy van Pelt, Joanne :-) Arrrggghhh!

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  4. Then when you receive an item that needs "some assembly" the instructions would confuse an expert in the field. Go figure.

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    1. Yes, that's true, Emma: when I got that disastrous coffee-machine, I saw at first glamce only the little manual. What I had overlooked was the CD - containing over 320 pages of expert-instructions...

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  5. I think that if you overprotect people all their life, make them weak and fearful and think for them, you are producing helpless weak idiots.
    People who are full of fear will believe what "they" above tell them, are putty in the hands of political idiots - in Germany we have had that.
    I am for people made strong by being able to think for themselves, being able to rely on their own perceptions, decide for themselves - and not remain four-year-olds who get pampered by "soma".

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    1. "Soma" for the Deltas in Orwell's Brave New World.

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  6. This is all very well, but they don't tell you how to take them off. I've been wearing mine for weeks now.

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    1. Oh, I get by with a little help from my friends
      Mm, I get high with a little help from my friends
      Mm, gonna try with a little help from my friends
      Do you need anybody???

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  7. Oh, Britta... I have become very tardy in reading through my blog list. With intention, I clicked on your post to see what my blogland friend was up to. Never disappointed... I needed a laugh... many of us here in US are looking in vain for something humorous! I found it in a memory... your illustration took me back to my first attempt at "pantyhose." After outgrowing the lacy-edged socks of little girls, we moved to the garter belt and stocking phase... yes, the seamless version had come to market by this time. However, my peers and I were on the cusp of the "pantyhose" era! What a sight .. I knew how to put on tights... but then a heavy hand didn't create the nasty run that would appear in pantyhose! Perhaps there was an illustration... I can't remember ... but I do remember trying to keep them from twisting and the top up where they belonged! I seldom succumb to the dreaded pantyhose these days... retirement has it's perks. Our lovely former First Lady Michelle Obama made the bare leg acceptable.... thankfully. While the gist of your post spoke to "overprotection" ... I found great humor. Thank you, Dear Britta... I will take my humor wherever I can find it these days. Sending smiles and laughter your way... Susan

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    1. Dear Susan, wow - that is a real long letter - thank you so much! I understand fully that it takes a lot of time to read blogs (that is my problem too - so many are brilliant, but reading & commenting take a lot of time).
      Ha - the time of garter belts! (The only good thing was that - if one had a ladder in one stocking - one could still use the other one, if one had bought two pairs of the same colour in wise forsight.
      Yes, your wonderful First Lady Michelle Obama had style!
      And thank you Susan for sharing my laughter - I find many things to laugh at - and many nice people to laugh with - I think that is one way to keep one's spirits up. Britta(ny), as Maria called me so appealingly!

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  8. Dear Brigitta, Excellent instructions, and polite --"please position the perfect fit of the gusset". They don't mention what calamities might otherwise ensue, but I have decided never to wear pantyhose until they do.

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  9. Haha, dear Geo., you always manage to surpass - here wit & fun & a tiny drop of implied possible future melancholy - brilliant!

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