I'll agree with this in part. (I lived in Germany for 3 years with a rescue dog.) I'll never forget throwing away glass on a Sunday (I missed the sign saying i

I'll agree with this in part. (I lived in Germany for 3 years with a rescue dog.) I'll never forget throwing away glass on a Sunday (I missed the sign saying it was forbidden) and getting stern looks by no less than three people, with one leaning over her balcony railing to tell me not to do that. ...and while that seemed incredelous to me at first, the American, it wasn't too hard to understand after a while that there was a culture of consideration to others, and it was vigorously enforced by society. And it extended to dogs. Mind you, their dogs still bark, people still screw up, and I encountered more than one dog off-leash while mine still was....even though I knew it was forbidden. No society is 100%. But I never forgot that early incident, and after a few years I found myself performing my own glare when someone fired up a gas lawnmower on a Sunday. =P Mind you, I ran my vacuum on a Sunday, but so did my neighbors, and there was an unspoken agreement that so long as it was done later in the day it was fine. I guess what I'm coming around to is this: It's a bit more than just "there are social rules and we follow them." People are, by and large, considerate, and they want others to be considerate it to. My time over there was really positive, and I credit this as part of it.