An Interview with William Tell if he lived in Switzerland Today-Interesting
swissinfo: You have been used by the political Left and Right, by advertisers and as a symbol of quality... Does that make you a bit of an opportunist?
W.T.: Certainly not. But the inhabitants of this country could be described like that. They created the hero and changed him to suit their needs and desires.
I'm a simple man, a mountain dweller who tried to do his duty, that's all. Can you believe that the William Tell you're talking to worked as a caretaker in a large company? I also worked in one of Swissair's maintenance workshops at Zurich airport.
swissinfo: After all these experiences, how do you view the Switzerland of today?
W.T.: During the years when I went from one odd job to another, I was pretty discouraged at times. I felt this country couldn't come to terms with the difficult memories of the last war, hiding behind a heroism that never existed.
And then I saw this symbol of quality – me with my crossbow – being misused. I also watched the incompetence of bosses at the big companies and finally I saw Switzerland joining the rat race.
Christian in a way it's pretty sad. I guess the inference is that Swiss used to stand for quality and the people took pride in their workmanship. The truth is that this could have been written about other countries as well. Unfortunately greed has become the current way of thinking and it isn't exclusive to just one country. Unfortunately the swissair 111 tragedy was the result of that greed.
Mon January 17 2005, 06:13 PM
BF
Wow Chris even removed his comments to this thread!