Sometimes Danes have a way of showing care that may come as a bit of. The first time I wittessed it was when I started language school. We had a meeting where the teachers explained to us how is the system working. I need to explain it a bit. So, language school is divided into 6 modules and on every module you get a certain amount of time in which you should pass the exam. After every exam you can choose do you want to continue, make a break and continue later or stop. If you signed up for the module your time is ticking. If you passed the module your time stops. When you start on the next one it starts to tick again. While you are attending a module there is not a thing in the world that can stop the time from ticking, no matter what. After the teacher explained that to us, she started giving examples.
Let's take a pregnant woman, she said. Let's say she started on a module and two days before the test she goes into labor. It would be better for her to hold the baby in until she passes the exam because if she passes we can stop the time. But if she decides to give birth and because of that she won't be able to continue on the module and attend the exam there is nothing we can do about it. Her time will keep ticking and it will expire.
I was shocked that the teacher would even use such an example. And if that isn't a good exception to the rules I don't know what is. After talking a bit more about how the time system works I did get the feeling that she really cares that we do well and succed but that one example never left my mind. But I kinda sidelined it for a good six months until last week when I read a story in one local newspaper.
In Denmark there is a dog law that puts a number of dog breeds, that are deemed dangerous, as illegal to own. If people already have them, nothing will happen to them if the dogs behave - their owners keep them in check - with the police keeping the right of taking the dog away for no apparent reason. In the news, police decided to take such a dog away from it's owner, even though the dogs was not causing any problems. So, the dog was from a breed on the list of illegal dog breeds and the owner was controling him well. The dog never attacked or bit any other dog or human. Usually in cases like these, police doesn't meddle but this time it did. They took the dog away, the dog was put down and the owner had an opportunity to see the dog for two hours before the dog was put down.
What happened was that the dog owner was so attached to his dog that he just couldn't handle it and after the dog was put down, he commited suicide.
What I find unsettling in this story is that usually in such cases the police doesn't meddle if the dogs are behaving well. This time the police decided to meddle and take the dog away, which is their legal right. On the other hand, the man was solitary and that he was keeping to himself, sometimes not talking to others for weeks and his only other companion was that dog and they took it anyway. I do no believe that nobody saw how much that dog ment to him. I do not belive that nobody saw that it would break him mentaly but they did it anyway.
In this case Denmark decided that certain dog breeds are bad for its citizens and in order to protect them they made them illegal to own. Even if one man commited suicide, greater good was still served. At least no one else will be harmed by that dog anymore. Despite all this I still wonder was anyone resposible for that man death?
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