Letters Unseen?

Germany is arguably one of the safest countries on the face of the earth. The only other countries I can think of that give it a little competition are Sweden, Norway, Finland, Switzerland, Singapore and perhaps Japan. And within Germany, Bavaria is one of the safest states. To give you an idea of just how safe life is here, consider this: Mail carriers do not drive a secured car or van when delivering the mail each day. They ride a bicycle – yes, a bicycle!

When a mail carrier arrives at an apartment building, he or she simply parks the bicycle in front of the building, hop off, grabs the bundle of mail to be distributed, and heads into the building. He doesn't set any sort of alarm on the bicycle. He simply leaves the bicycle unattended right there in front of the building, still loaded with all the mail for the other buildings and recipients left on the rounds. If someone was truly intent on stealing the mail or the bicycle, there's little to stop them. Just grab a bundle of unsupervised mail or hop on the bicycle and speed off.

But that rarely happens. Instead, the bike and alls its yet-to-be-delivered mail stands there untouched until the mail carrier returns. It's a sight that leaves me feeling split right down the middle. On the one hand, it gives me a little hope for humankind. But, on the other hand, it trips a number of alarms in my head and makes me wonder how many letters addressed to me might have not ended up in my mailbox over the past ten years.