The authority to speak... you know that reminds me of the little piece I
just read in my morning paper, about people on Swedish buses. Picture the
situation that the bus stops, somebody is standing by the door waiting to
get off, the door doesn't open, cause the driver forgot to push the
unlock-button. Nobody says anything. (Unless some untypical person like the
story-writer opens his mouth). The injunction against speaking out loud in
public places is a well-known trait of Swedish culture -- in fact not
really enough to motivate story-writing: what got this little piece going
was the change we've seen with the spread of cell-phones. These days we see
Swedes all over the place talking straight out in public to nobody present.
Myself, I'm very Swedish in this respect: I have been through bus episodes
where nobody broke the silence, the bus drove on, and the person meekly got
off at the next stop. I have also felt the Garfinkling tingle of raising my
voice, to get off myself, or to help somebody even more inhibited. However,
this winter in California I never got over how people would say "Thank you"
to the driver when they stepped off the bus. I mean: speak out like that
from the back door, to be heard all over the bus, and there isn't even a
PROBLEM?
Eva