He can't have things his way, so he tries to make certain other people's lives miserable. (Jeri)

I've read last weekend a feature about a man in Germany who moved to a little village (some 60 houses) many years ago. He is what most people would consider a learned man, a teacher by profession. He felt slighted by some of the 'native' inhabitants one day. There surely was a nucleus of truth to this feeling. It happens in villages that those who always have been there at first are not nice to newcomers.

The man felt hurt and felt not taken serious so he complained and was still not taken serious. Then he started to document each instance of when others in his opinion violated the rules. He taped their conversations in order to be able to replay what they had said one day to demonstrate that at times they were inconsistent and that what they said one day was different from what they had said the other day. He started to videotape them when they parked on the wrong spot etc.

He brought his neighbours to court each time he could find a reason. They reacted too the same way (at least to stop him (video)taping them without their knowledge. Now his day is filled with noting all the transgressions there are and to write reports or to respond to reports. The village is filled with hate and mistrust by now and the judge responsible for reports from that village needs help for he can't deal with all the cases.

The teacher in an interview claimed that he doesn't know how all that came and that he has nothing to do with it. He only reacts to the provocations and tries very ratiopnally to show the other villagers the mistakes and wrong accusations they have made. In particular, he likes to point out any inconsistencies in their behaviour towards him and others he perceives.

No, he doesn't want to move because he feels well there. If only the others would stop their ways of treating him unfairly everything could be as good as it was when he first came there. He liked that atmosphere and would love to have it back. No, he doesn't like to do with what now his days are filled, he'd rather have more time for his hobbies if only the others would leave him in peace.

Another German story: A German living in Latin America feels that once the state of Germany has done injustice to him. All his moves to get an apology or to find a court to revise the decision have failed. But he can't give up when he feels injustice has been done. So he seeks a way to do as much damage to Germany as he can.

He finds a loophole in the German laws. He can adopt legally as many people as he wants. By adoption these people become Germans and have in principle a right to social welfare money. So he adopts in Latin America some thousand adults from there (perhaps even 10,000 by now) and asks for German passports and for social welfare money. The German government says no (against a literal reading of the law) and a German court agrees with the government decision (the letter of the law is just one factor in German courts).

He now feels again that injustice has been done to him and only him for he knows several dozen cases where adoptions in Latin America have been acknowledged by the German authorities. So he knows that the law is bent only in his case, for such a minor difference like between 10,000 and say 2 adoptions should not have the consequence of treating him differently. So he now knows for sure that not only the German authorities but also the courts are biased only in his special case.

He now seeks a way to tranfer his adopted children to Germany all at the same time but he has not been successful yet.

Sorry for the thread creep. I don't know why these two real life stories came into my mind when reading the sentence I have quoted.

Wolfgang