Category: Society

Watching the Swedes is about my observations of Swedish behaviour. Sometimes, it’s easy to think that I am describing ‘typical Swedish’. However, it’s important to remember that I describe individuals I see and these people may behave in ways that are typical to themselves but not reflective of Swedish society as a whole. I am glad to say that, sometimes, it’s just the questionable behaviour of one person.

One example of this happened today. It is an example that makes me angry, sad and frustrated.

Today a 74 year old Swedish woman died in hospital. She died after she was assaulted in a car park outside a supermarket in the south of Sweden. The whole thing started as an argument over a parking space between the dead woman and a man in his 20’s. It resulted with the man punching the woman’s wheelchair-bound husband, and then punching the 74 year old woman right in the face. He hit her so hard that she fell to the ground, smashing her head on the tarmac. The internal bleeding she suffered led to her death in hospital today. The young man is still unidentified.

What kind of a person hits someone in a wheelchair and then thumps a pensioner in the face?

Thankfully, this kind of thing is in the minority. I am glad to live in a country like Sweden which is relatively safe, and where people are relatively respectful of each other. This is why, when things like this happen, I feel shocked and angry.

I hope that it continues be a rarity and I continue to react in the outraged way I do. I hope everybody does. The day we are complacent is the day we condone this kind of behaviour. It’s the day we say that it’s ok to behave in this way.

And it’s the day society goes to hell.

One thing that strikes me as I walk the city streets, is the size of children in pushchairs. They are humongous! Kids that can obviously walk are transported about by Swedish parents all over the city. I don’t know if the kids are lazy, or the parents, but they are huge!

I’ve always thought that the parents weren’t willing to accept that the children were growing older. That they wanted to keep them young and ‘babyish’ for as long as possible. My theory was given credibility with the fact that Swedes remain as students for longer than many other nationalities and there is a high proportion of grown adults still living at home.

This is why I was surprised to see the see the results of a recent survey from the University of Kent, in the UK. The survey was about when different cultures think that we stop being young.

According to the survey, Swedish people think that we stop being young at 34. This is much younger than in many other countries.

In the UK, we think we are young until 35, apparently. And in Cyprus – the age where youth ends is 45.

In fact, Portugal is the only surveyed country that thinks that our youth finishes earlier than the Swedish average.

So, my argument about why big Swedish kids are still in pushchairs doesn’t hold.

Or maybe it does.

Given that their youth ends earlier than most other countries in the survey, it’s necessary to hold on to it while you’ve still got it.

At 17.32 today, we will experience the vernal equinox, when night and day are of equal length. From tomorrow, the days get longer and lighter. Spring and summer are on the way, and the temperature is rising.

This time of the year, it’s easy to feel that everyone is Sweden is either going away or has already been away on a long-haul holiday to the sun. Thailand is the favourite winter destination for Swedes, followed by the Dominican Republic and the Canary Islands.

But not everybody can afford an overseas holiday. Not everyone has the means or the state of health to sit on a plane and be catapulted to warmer climes. But there is a solution. In the Swedish town of Västerås.

At the care home for the elderly, ‘Södergården’, the staff have created a South Pacific room for the residents.

In the ceiling, there are infra red lamps which provide heat and solarium tubes which provide ultraviolet light. Electric fans provide a light sea breeze. The room is filled with sand, and projected onto the walls are images of a Hawaiian blue sky, sea and palm trees. These images can be changed so as to alter the theme of the room – for example to an archipelago scene or city view of Paris or Rome. The residents lounge in deckchairs or sit at the bar and sip exotic fruit cocktails.

This is such a fantastic idea to brighten up the existence of the residents in an old folks’ home. Apparently it hasn’t been proven yet, but experts believe that a room like this can lead to better sleep patterns, more energy and reduced anxiety for the old timers.

When all you hear are horrific examples of how old people are treated in residential homes, this comes like a breath of fresh air.

When I hear examples like this, it’s almost as though I’m looking forward to becoming old in Sweden.

So, the newspapers are trying to paint a picture of a ‘Wallander curse’. A second Wallander actor, Emil Forselius, was discovered dead this morning in his apartment. He had committed suicide. A while ago, popular actor Johanna Sällström also killed herself – while in the middle of a Wallander film project.

The myth of Swedish suicide still has a strong hold outside of Sweden. When non-Swedes are asked what stereotypes they have of Swedes very many of them say ‘suicidal’. Why is this the case?

Is it because of the long dark winters and the problem we can have with seasonal adjustment disorder? Maybe. Is it the legacy of depressing, morose Bergman films that have painted a miserable and introspective view of the Swedes? Perhaps. Is it the lack of ‘godliness’, no real strong belief in religion, that means taking your own life is easier? Could be.

Combined, of course, with statistics.

According to statistics, Swedes have the highest suicide rate in the world. This is something that non-Swedes often love to refer to. But statistics are deceptive.

Most countries in the world do not even keep statistics of suicide, especially those countries with strong religious beliefs (which is most of them). When people commit suicide, they call it something else, in order to secure a place for the dead person in heaven or to prevent the family from being burdened with shame.

But in Sweden, suicide is not a sin. Suicide is a tragedy. In Sweden suicide is documented as what it is – suicide – as a reminder for the rest of us how fragile our existence is.

So, of course Sweden has the highest statistics, because Sweden is one of the few countries to actually keep accurate documentation.

I don’t believe that Swedes have a tendency to take their own lives more than other nationals. I just believe that when they do, the nation doesn’t try to hide it. It is hard enough for families to deal with their grief without having to also be weighed down with shame.

Ultimately, Sweden is a modern society where citizens have free choice to make decisions that influence their own lives. Suicide is, in its extreme, a way of exercising this free choice. It is of course a tragedy but it is not something we should ignore and hide.

As long as some people in our society feel that suicide is their only choice, it is our obligation to document and defend an open dialogue about it.

Sometimes when you live in a country so long, you forget what is different from your own culture. You adapt. You are culturally aligned. In my case, I have become Swedified.

Take ‘fjärrvärme’. ‘Fjärrvärme’ is long-distance heating. It’s a way of warming houses and apartment buildings and is very common in central Stockholm.

Long-distance heating usually consists of water that is heated up in factories outside the city. The water is then sent through pipes and out to the buildings. The water circulates in each apartment’s radiators and, when it has been used for a long time, gets cold again. Then, it gets sent back to the factory to get heated up again. Logical, huh? And such a natural part of the Swedish infrastructure that I have hardly reflected over it. Until I went to England and told my family about it.

‘That’s outrageous!!’ they said. Surprised by the strong reaction, I asked why.

‘Well, if the government or private companies control the heating, they could just turn it down in order to control the public. They could set the heat to a low level in order to increase national work output. It’s so communist. It’s outrageous.’

I tried to explain that it was a very green way to heat the buildings but couldn’t come up with a decent argument.

I tried to explain that when you pay the monthly apartment fee, you get as much heating as you like. But they thought that this was also outrageous – a neighbour could have their radiators turned up higher and they would pay the same fee as those who had their radiators lower. Communist.

I tried to explain it was the same as other utilities in the UK. Like water, electricity and gas. But they didn’t get it. Controlling your own heating, they claimed, is a basic right.

I floundered. I couldn’t persuade them of the benefits of ‘fjärrvärme’.

I like and accept ‘fjärrvärme’. I think it is a great utility. My acceptance of it sits so deeply now that I can’t explain why it is the way it is. It just is.

I realise I am culturally aligned, at least on this issue. I am Swedified.

A fantastic characteristic of Swedish society is freedom of speech, freedom of religion and of lifestyle. Based on the value of equality, the concept of freedom of speech applies to everyone in the society, even children.

It’s no surprise then that in a country that has a child ombudsman and fierce legislation against corporal punishment, the following is happening. School children are being given the opportunity to evaluate, or grade, their teachers – to give their opinion on the abilities of their teachers. Their evaluations will be public records.

Politicians who support the move say that school is there for the children, not the teachers, Therefore, children should have an influence over their environment and the people who work there.

Politicians who are against say that children are not mature enough to understand the consequences of their grading and that the results could be devastating for individual teachers.

No matter what we think, for or against, I think this is fantastic. A fantastic example of the Swedish belief in equality in practice.

Even the smallest people in this culture have a voice, and a right to share it.