stories from denmark
inside - Being a student at a Danish university I have a report to do
on the development of social benefits the past twenty years in Denmark and
Spain. It has given me an insight into the Danish and Spanish economies I have
never had before. It has made me appreciate what we have in Denmark and made
me realize how privileged I am relative to a person my age even in Spain.
Right now I am in the proces of finding an apartment which definitely is not
an easy task. It requires a lot of suspicion which is healthy to gain also for
use in other activities throughout life in general.
outside - In Denmark violence has become more deadly. Second generation
immigrants are finding it hard to be accepted by the Danish society. 50% of
all youing people in jailin Denmark are foreigners which is not a good sign.
This means that a great minority in the Danish society have social problems.
Death has become the result of much of the crime committed in Denmark. In
general the media emphazises the social losses of this society. We have a high
rate of suicide and just today there is an article about children running away
from home which is also a sign of a lack of social contact between people. We
need to redefine our values and take better care of our family and friends
otherwise society won't be woth living in regardless of how well the economy
is doing.
future - I find it hard to answer this question since 100 years may
offer lots of new advances in the field of technology and many environmental
problems. The challenge for mankind will be to concentrate on saving the earth
so to speak. If you have no water or oxygen you have no life. My hope is that
life 100 years from now is a life with more time for family and other spare
time activities, that is more time for personal development. Technology will
create new types of jobs, but I have no idea of their content. I expect us to
become more socially minded and have a greater interest in other peoples'
lives. Living on another planet might also be possible as science has showed.
Politically I think Europe will be one big union with regard to trade and
monetary policy, but not social policy. Asia will be another big economic
union, Africa I hope will be helped by the so-called rich countries otherwise
I do not see much of a great future for them. The industrialized nations have
a responsibility towards the developed countries. It is in our own interest
indeed to help these people get of to a better start. They deserve to share
the world's wealth, too. I expect the world's population to be decreasing - at
least in the western world. The developed countries, I think, will also
experience a decreasing number of births as they will be introduced to
contraceptives. I have chosen to answer this question in terms of what
will/needs to be done within the next 100 years as I find the original
question very hard to answer. Once again I would like to stress the importance
of solving the environmental problems.
Pernille Tandrup <44mne95@samnet1.ou.dk>
Odense, Denmark - Friday, January 31, 1997 at 09:51:23 (GMT)
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