I live in Berlin and for two days I have been getting messages either

1. from people I almost never hear from wondering "if you are ok"?

and, even more absurdly,

2. people who I know who live near Berlin but venture into town maybe four times a year telling me they are 'safe'

To top it all off, I opened Facebook (thankfully I hardly ever look at it nowadays) to be confronted with:

"Berlin Attack - You are not marked as safe yet"

Options:
- Mark yourself safe
- Not in the area

Where is the 'f*ck off and stop bring melodramatic' option?

I mean I'm sure it's all well-intentioned and it's nice to hear from people, but it's so stupid!

Nobody asks me every day if I haven't been run over, which is statistically way more likely.

And according to Facebook, 11 of my 'friends' have 'not yet marked themselves safe'.

So what should I think? Assume that they are the victims? Or that the whole thing is a pointless, melodramatic waste of time?!

It's absurd!

...we must expand...get more pupils...so that the knowledge will spread...

They just like to keep stoking that fear fire.

Where have you been? Not enough pensions threads?

But are you ok? You've not marked yourself as safe.

When the 7/7 attacks happened I had people phoning me to ask if I was safe, even though I worked in Slough and on a blue moon occasionally spent a day in Victoria (and then always on a Tuesday).

Jesus, how big did people think those bombs were...

"One Nation Under God, has turned into One Nation Under the Influence of One Drug"
[Link]

And therein lies the tragedy.

Everybody wants to be involved and show how caring they are. Same people who tell you on Facebook that they just had a cup of coffee or a sh"t. So self important. God how I hate all this sudo concern and hand wringing these days ! I Feel better now though.

Far more effective was to go home, sit round the table with the extended family and a big pot of tea and sob it all out as you told them all about it. They would all add their two pennyworth of advice and/or consolation and then you all got with life.

Sorted most of life's problems that used to!

A stairway to Heaven and a Highway to Hell give some indication of expected traffic numbers