Youth centre worker and columnist Milad Mohammadi questions whether traditional Swedish behaviour is really all it's cracked up to be if it often means not helping those in need.
A few weeks ago I wrote about tripping over on the pavement, and how even with bleeding knees I didn't get help from anyone, in fact not even getting a single glance in my direction – which I felt people did on purpose.
Now it’s happened again, but to someone utterly undeserving of such treatment.
An older gentlemen on the train to Uppsala wanted to buy a ticket but didn’t have a credit card. He asked the other passengers if anyone could pay for him and said he'd give them the equivalent sum in cash instead.
Nobody helped him. Nobody even looked at him.
I ended up paying for the old man’s ticket. It turned out we were heading in the same direction and we chatted for a while.
He told me how people don’t see him as human. He got upset. I told him I was about to give two lectures that day in two different cities to about 600 teenagers.
I promised to tell them to see their fellow humans as fellow humans, explaining that holding talks is what I do best.
The old man’s face lit up; he looked happy. Fuck Sweden, I thought to myself. Fuck traditional Swedish behaviour, to be more precise.
What’s my conclusion here? That my country disappoints me.
Note EU-Digest: unfortunately this kind of behavior is not only limited to Sweden, but in many countries throughout Europe.
Read more: 'To hell with traditional Swedish behaviour'
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