Colorado College Bulletin

World Views 2001

A Photo and Essay Contest

This summer, the International Alumni Committee of the Alumni Association Board held a photo/essay contest to encourage alumni living abroad to share their intercultural experiences.  The entries were judged based on their ability to capture the essence of an intercultural experience or foreign location.  The contest came to a close in August and the winning essay and winning photo -- Mark Lassleben '74 and photographer Betty Broadhurst '40 -- are show here.  

Freedom and Authority … The Swiss Way

By Mark Lassleben ’74

I have been living in Switzerland for two years now. I live in the Swiss-German portion, which is important to note, as Switzerland is both traditionally multicultural, and multicultural in the newer sense of the word. Living here is a postgraduate course in Freedom and Authority, subjects near and dear to everyone who goes, has gone, or will go to Colorado College. Like the Americans, Swiss citizens pride themselves in being one of the oldest democracies still functioning. Like America, Switzerland has its democratic ironies. Women were not allowed to vote here until 1986. Americans have the cowboy and Swiss the mountaineer as symbolic personifications of the freedom that they hold so sacred.

With freedom being such an important value, how is it that, on the whole, Swiss are so well behaved? Some people say that in Switzerland “everyone is the police.” A friend who was visiting recently was surprised to be told in one day that: 1) his shoelace was untied, 2) that he shouldn’t put his feet up on a public train seat with his shoes on, and 3) that he shouldn’t cross against a red light as he might be injured. There was no traffic at the time. I think it is a harsh judgment to say that everyone takes on a policing role, but there are highly refined and subtle social control mechanisms that allow culturally diverse people to live in a small space with a surprisingly low level of crime and conflict. 

My favorite example of social control in Switzerland was something I observed outside of a train station. A chap who clearly hailed from India came up out of the underground passageway to the train, and in his hurry, he brushed against a row of bicycles, which tipped one another over domino style. A chap who was obviously native Swiss stopped dead in his tracks, and looked straight at the Indian. The native Swiss smiled quizzically. The Indian was in a hurry, and many bicycles had gone down. He was torn, eager to be on his way, but trapped by the smiling stare of the Swiss. There was a pregnant pause, the Indian’s leg twitched like a frozen deer about to take flight. The Swiss man kept smiling, but now cocked his head, still arrested mid stride. Another long moment went by before the Indian started setting right all the bicycles he knocked down. The Swiss man watched it all, and when it was done, he smiled warmly, nodded, and was on his way. Not a word was exchanged, no threats, and very little emotion. I was struck by the power and simplicity of this exercise in social control that left so much room for individual freedom.

Contact the author at Mark_Lassleben@shlag.com

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