julia moved

Det fixar vi sen.

“They are kicking us out of the apartment!”

“Boat sinking now!”

“The city hall is on fire!!”

“What? Where? What can I do?” would be an expected reaction. And the Prussian part of me instantly throws a net of structure over the situation to identify priorities and a timing for solving the mess. Whereas many of  P’s fellow countrymen easily switch to relax-mode. This might come as a surprise to many, but there are quite some soft beats and ganja in the Swedish soul.

When Swedes come across a conflict or problem, you hear reggae tunes from a distance and a soft hammock feeling slowly takes over the arena.

The Swede lays back and leaves the situation for destiny to solve – since things mostly turn out the way they turn out. “Things will fall into place, they always do, stuff dissolves, this will fix itself eventually, no doubt (Timbuktu, press play).

This can mildly put drive you mad, when you see the house is on fire, but there is absolutely no way you will get anyone out of their porch-swing.
Beside the reggae approach I see quite some mañana tendencies in the firm belief that not only can we postpone dealing with the alarm, it will also take care of itself. The expression ”det ordnar sig” means ”it will fix itself” and seriously makes me wonder. How exactly? Will the rice crispies sweep up themselves? The enormous electricity bill dissolve? Or is this another example for the belief that ”they” take care of it? The system, the greater something?

After a couple of years in Sweden I admit that there is some truth to this. Things do mostly turn out to be somehow and often just the way they then are. Sometimes it can be smart to take a seat and observe instead of making action plans.

But in some cases you might actually save a couple of walls from turning to ashes by taking a hammer and a nail – and that quite promptly.