august: cleveland county

This morning, two trains run by the Meridian company had a head-on collision on the route from Holzkirchen to Rosenheim, near the town of Bad Aibling. Here's the BBC's story as well as the German-language story from the Holzkirchner Merkur

If you don't know, I did my study abroad in Holzkirchen. It was perhaps the greatest experience of my life. It helped me become more independent and sure that studying German was, for me, the proper choice. It also means that I saw the trains that ran on the line where the crash occurred almost every single day on my way to school during the summer of 2012 since the train station was between my house and the school. I even took a train on that route once when I went to Austria for a day.

Additionally, Meridian operates my favorite train of all time, the BOB (Bayerische Oberlandbahn; Bavarian Overland Train). The BOB offers service between Munich and Holzkirchen in less than an hour. We took this train into the city at least twice a week while I was studying abroad, and I used it again later when I visited Holzkirchen while working in Erfurt. The BOB is such a quintessential German experience for me: quiet, on-time trains that offer reliable service without having to drive. Since the train is privately owned and only covers a short distance, it is usually very clean. There are so many differences between the south-central United States and Germany, but this is the first one that I encountered, and the one that I'm most fond of.

Train wrecks in Germany often make me think about language and how our language must sound to others. In German, the word for wreck is "Unglück." However, the work "Glück" means "joy" or "luck." Every time I see a wreck or disaster mentioned in the German media, my first thought is that this seems like a horrible situation to term "unlucky." Then I remember that the word means "disaster" in this case. Our words are such a powerful thing, and yet sometimes we may not think through how it is perceived by those who don't share our language. There is no German word that better describes this incident than "Unglück." Words such as this, which cause me to do an unnecessary double-take, make me wonder if it is possible to be totally fluent in a language I learned as an adult. It also makes me wonder what our English words are worth. People are always "heartbroken" after tragedies, even if they have no connection to the incident. How many times can your heart break for disasters before it ceases to cause you pain?

One of the last things my study abroad group did in Holzkirchen was act out the final scene of the play Der Besuch der alten Dame at the train station. The Germans there thought we were crazy, but the final scene of the play takes place at a train station, so there we were. The empty platform on the right in the photo is the place from which the Holzkirchen-Rosenheim train leaves.

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Photos from own collection.

1:55 PM
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The Power of Words

Democrats

The Democratic primary race, which features two well-qualified candidates, has at times become a race centered on language and the words which Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders use to describe themselves and their campaigns. This is coupled with wider rhetoric about how we view America and what kind of country and society we live in, along with the society and country we want to see.

Source: Sanders Campaign Website

"Revolution" is a word that the Sanders campaign is fond of using to set itself apart from the other candidates on both sides of the aisle. It signifies that a Sanders presidency would be a significant departure from previous presidencies. This plays into the American idea that revolution is inherently good. Since we were children, we all learned about the American revolution and how this was a wonderful thing because it paved the way for the United States to become its own country. The American narrative, however, typically leaves out the detail that most revolutions are unsuccessful and do not lead to democratic societies. Even if a revolution is successful in ousting a group from power, the fall-out is often too much for the revolutionaries to take. Factions form, and at times the end result is another government much the same or worse than before in terms of freedom and democracy. The French Revolution of 1789, the Russian Revolution of 1917, the Confederate States of America, and the Arab Spring are all examples of revolutions that did not improve everyone's lives and made things much worse in some cases.

The word "socialist" makes me very uncomfortable when I hear it in this campaign cycle. This is because when I lived in Eastern Germany, I was corrected more than once when I said that the area used to be communist. The people who lived in the German Democratic Republic were convinced that their old system was authoritarian socialism. Now, the addition of the word "democratic" in from of "socialist" makes a world of difference. It's the difference between the government paying your neighbors to spy on you and being free to say what you wish. Here are Sanders's remarks on his view of democratic socialism.

Finally, the word "progressive" has been put through the wringer in the past few weeks. What is a progressive? Who deserves to use this word? Both Sanders and Clinton self-identify as progressives. If you google the word, the first thing that comes up is an insurance company. NPR, The Atlantic, and The New York Times have all tried to define the word recently. I always think of the Progressive movement in the US at the start of the 20th century:

I'm in support of people self-identifying as they see fit, so I don't have a problem with either candidate's choice of identifier. However, some of the other rhetoric leaves me with questions. Can we retake and redeem words that have in the past been linked to terrible things, as with "socialist" and "revolution?" Does it show a lack of understanding if people try to retake and redefine these words while not paying proper attention to the history behind them? Language is so important that we should not just dismiss words that have a difficult history as being instantly reformed when someone new uses them, even if the word is being used in its original sense. So keep your ears up, America. I'm sure the next nine months of election season will have even more discussions over the use of language and the power of words.

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Title photo source: Unsplash