Almost every year I visit my brother in Berlin. I have, over the years, become enamored with the style of life in this city. I have written before about how bikes are the norm in transportation, but now I am expanding my repertoire by going out there myself (while my brother is working) and discovering what life is like here.
My brother is in his 40s and has lived in Berlin for 17 years without owning a car. We go on biking holidays on the weekends (along with many others) and with a few exceptions on terrible weather days, he rides the bike everywhere. Everyone else does too. Very few wear helmets, because they don’t have to. This is not Michigan where it is the duty of every driver to seemingly aim for that bicyclist on the street. Like one Ypsilanti man who yelled at me the other day, “Why don’t you get an SUV?!” because I had the nerve to get exercise and put less CO2 into the air. The nerve of some people to not drive a car in Motown. But I digress….
Today I rode my bike to go shopping for dinner. Eating in Europe, I have discovered over the years, is not the same as in the states. First of all, unless you are wealthy, you don’t have the space in your apartment (or a large refrigerator) to store all the food that Americans typically have. So shopping is an almost daily routine, but not the onerous drive to the off ramp on the outskirts to shop in a store the size of a warehouse (all to “save” a few pennies on way too many of whatever it is you want to buy. Oh and to spend $ in gas to do it).
Instead, dinner is around almost every corner. Yeah, sure a lot of it is little cafes with tables on the street (this isn’t bad either), but there is a wealth of little bakeries, vegetable stands and smaller markets where one can bike to and then carry home on the back of the bike their ingredients for the next few meals. I know there are some big box stores as in America, but it is not the ordinary choice when you don’t own or drive a car, which is what living in European cities is all about. Many people do not own cars. Everything they need is close by and there are many choices. Every block has another small set of shops offering unique goods, bakeries, and clothes. Entrepreneurs abound in this city. It is really fun. And there are jobs galore for everyone who is selling what they believe in, not what they have been assigned that day in a company they have no ownership in.
Out with the Walmarts, and in with the small owners. Yes, it may cost a little more in the shop, but is it better to pay for unemployment and depression medicine for those displaced from their business, or to frequent a local shop where they know you and are willing to please? When was the last time you had that in America?
I look at Ypsi and I see the shops closing. The art shop is no longer, some of the few restaurants we have, a market, a local clothing shop, a nursery...... Let's keep people employed in doing the things they love and have an ownership interest in, rather than keep Walmart running an unsustainable show.
