Things I Love About Finland: Tribute to Finland's 100 Years of Independence

On December 6, 1917, Finland became an independent nation from Russia. 100 years later Finland celebrates. As an American having lived in Finland for the past 13 years, there are many things I have come to appreciate about Finland and Finnish people.

Independence Day (Finland)
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

[kariahola]

Today Dec 6th 2017 Finland's Independence Day for 100 years. My respect for the men and women who made it possible!
Greetings to all Finns around the globe!
And Thank You, James!

[RazielDArc]

Thank you good Sir. I may not be a believer, but still... God Bless you too :)

[ivrishcon-abarth]

So you have been here about 13% of the time Finland has been independent... Sort of shows how young Finland is as an independent nation. As a native Finn, I many times forget that important fact mentioned in this video, which is the "no natural catastrophes" -phenomena. Even when I see news all over the world about tsunamis, earthquakes, volcanic eruptions and so on, I rarely think about their absense in Finland. There are minor floods sometimes, on the west coast mostly, but otherwise almost nothing ever. Not much dangerous animals, some bears in the forests, wolf packs in the northern part of Finland, but it´s really rare to see dangerous animal. There´s only one venomous snake species living here, kyy (adder in English), not YET/any more dangerous diseases, like malaria, cholera and such.

In that sense, I think we have one of the least deadly natures in the whole world. Nature-related deaths tend to be drunken men drowning around midsummer (Juhannus) parties to one of our more than lakes (depending on the definition of lake), or again, men drowning in winter when ice fishing or otherwise engaging weak ice carelessly. Of course domestic animals sometimes kill or injure people, I think dogs mostly, but that´s the same everywhere. One more thing about the climate, it´s well known, but many times forgotten, that Finland is about exactly as far north as Alaska is, or most of the Siberia.

Thanks for the video, it´s nice to see foreign born people appreciating this small but relatively functioning nation :) Just have to say, the politicians are really not much better than elsewhere (Finland had been least corrupted nation for ever, until lately dropped to third place, which is a Catastrophy) these days, if ever. It would seem that "welfare state" is not profitable enough to the "elite" (shitelite I call it, sorry about the language) and corporate world, and it is being dismantled little by little. Which is a shame, for unequality is growing, and the relatively good balance between the rich and poor have been one of the cornerstones of what makes Finland a good place. Make no mistake, I absolutely hate communism, but sort of neocapitalist thinking and actions are corrupting our society.

I believe that the facts that Finland is very small nation by population (5, 5 million) and that population has been quite equal in their changes of making a good life for themselves, and sort of homogenous base values within finnish people have been factors in any success our nation has had. Education, childcare, health services... These and other such things have given all the people the equality of opportunity (which must NOT be mistaken for equality of outcome!!) and little bit of togetherness, enough for most people to pay their hated taxes, understanding and trusting that one day they´ll be on the receiving end of the budget, and this is a safe country where most things work about as supposed.

It just seems that recently, since the depression of 1990´s, that trust and understanding has been corroded, by the politicians, in most cases on purpose. Budget cuts on two things are fatal and expensive: on education now, and on children´s mental health services back on 1990´s. Every penny "saved" there costs us hundredfold now and in the future, both economically and socially.

[django]

I'm glad that some people actually like our country! You are great person! keep it up!

[oscargold]

Those homeless people are that by choise. They would be taken care of if they'd accept the help.

Finns are also very honest. That's why you should think before you ask something. If you ask a male person "What's up?" there could come some pervert answer. If he is aroused. :D

[holoholopainen]

Great Video & Well Done ! Have You ever heard of an American called JIM THOMPSON ? NOT the One that Google gives - The One Missing at Delaware State ( Not Found ) ! This JIM of Kallio - that came to Finland and turned to a writer ( 5 ) Books ! He worked from Rock Bottom at KALLIO - as Doorman to Bartender - and so got to know alot People - that helped Him to write Stories ! He is on Wikipedia - Books translated to 10 languages ! Thank God

[parlamedia]

Very atypical of Finns to talk about religion so openly as it's a secular or pretty much a habitreligious country and most if the kids these days dont even belong to a church.