In case you hadn't realised by now, I am living in Germany. And of course Germany are through to the semi finals of the European Cup, as well as Turkey. One phenomenon I have noticed recently are a lot of cars and flats with both the German and the Turkish flag. Now that is a great sign I think. To me it means that people are leaving behind their restrictive nationalistic thinking and acknowledging that they can be a member of more than one culture.
Now comes the tricky part. Not only are both German and Turkey through to the semi finals, they are playing each other on Wednesday. I for one am looking forward to the match but not to what will happen afterwards, no matter who wins. I am sure that there will be some very nasty moments on Wednesday night where the winners rub the losers' noses in it.
I wonder what the evening will be like for those who have been flying two flags. I can't help thinking that despite the very positive sign that it sends, that when it comes down to a match between the two teams and cultures which you are part of, you can only support one team. You can only shout for goals from one side.
But maybe just maybe these enlightened beings won't shout quite so loud as the others and won't draw any other conclusions from a loss of the team they ultimately support, than that they lost. No vicious repercussions, no expressions of deep seated cultural resentment, just losing a game of football. And that would definitely be progress, wouldn't it?