From the German news this morning....the Baden-Wurttemberg Minister President made an odd comment that will likely drive some political debate topics over the next week or two in Germany.
Basically, with all this refugee crisis stuff going on in Germany, and the marginal methods used so far to house the new immigrants or refugees....Herr Kretschmann (Green Party) suggests that Germans themselves....individually....ought to stand up and take in refugees...into their own house.
By the end of the discussion....the comments led onto the idea that this is only the beginning, and the immigration flow will widen in the weeks and months ahead. There was a suggestion at one point that several European countries aren't doing their part to take in refugees, and this needs to be remedied.
I'm from Alabama.....an American....and simply viewing the situation from within Germany. It's safe to say that the German government has only one simple plan for a marginal number of immigrants suddenly showing up, and they never thought it'd go beyond that number. Broadening the plan and going onto a more dynamic situation? The accommodations simply aren't there. It could take a year to get funding set into place, and three years to build enough structures to house the refugee population.
Then the Germans themselves would start to ask questions. Like.....where exactly will you put up these low-income housing projects for refugees? Not in my neighborhood or town, will be the German public response.
Then the Germans will ask.....what status will these people gain? None speak German. None have technical talents. Most have marginal education accomplishments. We already have enough taxi drivers and grocery shelf stockers. Who will pay for the benefits package and the health insurance required of each?
This idea of having individual Germans take in refugee families? As we say in Alabama.....that's mighty Christian of them. Out of a 10,000 German families? You might find one who has the appreciation of the problem, the gut desire to help, and actually has enough space to offer the refugee family a single room in their house.
The length of time? Well...that's where things start to fall apart. In America....when folks get bad off and you offer up space in your house for them.....it's all smiles in the beginning. Somewhere around the fourth week....you start to lose patience with their bathroom habits, their noise creation, the clean-up arguments, and the funny discussions that come up. With Germans? I think this start up by the 4th day (instead of the 4th week).
The idea of shifting the refugees off to some rural area with tens of thousands of empty houses/apartments sitting out there? Most German rural folks would like the idea of "big-federal" government paying some overly fair rent for an empty house or two in town. The minute that some 1,000 resident town started to discover sixty refugees having been pushed into their precious paradise....they'd start to turn hostile.
Somewhere out there.....some RTL TV producer is looking at this scenario and devising some situation comedy for commercial TV. Throwing some old German bachelor guy with two empty apartments in his house into a dynamic day-by-day affair with some gypsy gal and her kid, along with some Syrian mafia family.
I have an appreciation of the terrible affairs of the world currently, and how refugees are left to some fairly painful decisions. You end up leaving your home, and the odds are.....you will never return. Accepting hospitality offered....even if deemed marginal....is about all that you can accomplish. Life deals out some bad fate at times, and you just do the best you can, with what you were dealt. And the idea of moving into a German household? Well.....you better be prepared for some challenges.
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