Interesting Comment - Jante Law

The Jante Law is something I learned about after 3 months of living in Denmark. I went on a course with Susanne from work called Dealing with the Danes, and it was one of the coolest things I have been a part of. It really helped me understand why Danes are the way they are.

This law is comprised of 10 different rules, and the basis of it is essentially that there is one single theme:

Don't think you're anyone special or that you're better than us.

The ten rules are:

Don't think that you are special.
Don't think that you are of the same standing as us.
Don't think that you are smarter than us.
Don't fancy yourself as being better than us.
Don't think that you know more than us.
Don't think that you are more important than us.
Don't think that you are good at anything.
Don't laugh at us. Don't think that anyone of us cares about you.
Don't think that you can teach us anything.

And lastly: Don't think that there is something we don't know about you.

What is interesting about this concept is Danes really do abide by it in a sense - they almost believe in anoniminity. They are happy being content...and not necessarily standing out amongst the group and exceeding.

I bring up this point because of an interesting conversation I had with a girl I play soccer with - one who has become a good friend of mine, Lonnie Kristensen.

Our soccer team had a really, really tough game one weekend. We were winning the game, but then became tied in the second half. This particular game meant a lot to us, and we fought back hard to win with 10 minutes left in the game. The whole team had a tough game, but I can confidently say that the defense won the game for us - like the saying, offense sells tickets, defense wins game. This really was true for my fellow defenders and myself this day.

I knew how well the defense played. And in the US, it is okay to celebrate your successes. After the game, the 4 girls that played most of the defense that game were standing around each other. I made the comment that, 'Girls, we need to be proud of ourselves. We won this game today for the team.' No one really said much, and we just started talking about our plans for the night.

A few days later, Lonnie brought up to me that she thought it was so cool that I made that comment, or even more so, that I am able and capable of making that comment. That because of Jante Law, she would never, or any other Dane for that matter, would never think to say that, because they don't want to feel like they are better, they don't want to separate themselves from the group.

Just sit and think about that for a second. There is a pretty severe lack of cockiness here, and it is really cool. I never would have thought twice about making a comment like that....and now I do!