Friday, December 29, 2006

TO MY READERS




Early this year I set up this Blog first of all to settle in a place on the Internet where I could readily and freely publish my thoughts on subjects that interest me. I am aware of the fact that Blogging first of all is a satisfaction for the Blogger, even if it largely is a one-way-traffic for most of us.

Well is it? I rarely read comments. I have no clue who visits my Blog, nor do I know how many people can actually find me.

Nonetheless, the exercise of publishing my thoughts at regular intervals in this fashion is a very gratifying activity. I have now accumulated a large number of essays, of my own hand, which otherwise I wouldn’t have written. I can now consider publishing them in a classic form, if I like, .i.e. by turning it into a book.

But then of course, the same question still applies. Who would be interested?

I intend to continue this Blog well into the next year. I may have to reconsider the themes and subjects, perhaps even the style of my Blog. But all in all, I feel, I should not change much of its spirit and outlook.

Having said this, I should welcome any feedback, any suggestion, any comment that may guide me in pursuing this exercise.

So please, if by chance you read this request, kindly consider responding to it.

Monday, December 18, 2006

CHRISTMAS 2006



Let's give the right example to the young

This weekend I had a young visitor. He is a young man of twenty-one, born in Morocco but raised in the Dutch city of The Hague. His is not a life of privilige. His father died of cancer when he was eleven years of age. He still lives at home, even though he finds it difficult to get along with his mother. None of his two elder brothers take much interest in him. So, he is very much on his own. He hasn’t completed any significant education or training, yet he has to pay off a debt of more than ten thousand dollars for whatever little education he has had.

I offered him my assistance, just talking about the possibilities that he might pursue, i.e. a job or any kind of vocational training.

After the young man left, which he did rather in a hurry, I noted that I couldn’t find my cellphone. And it didn’t take me long to realize that this young man had snatched it away from my desk. Damn!

Thankfully, I had his number (I could of course have called 'myself'). I reached him, and yes, after a moment he admitted that he had taken my cellphone away, so he could sell it for some money and pay off an urgent debt. “You wouldn’t have given it to me, if I had asked.”

Eventually, he agreed to exchange my cellphone for the money he needed. I went to the place in the city where he would wait for me. When he stepped into my car, I gave him a long hard look and said: “You really got the wrong guy. I could have meant much more for you than the money in my hand!”

He apologized for having cheated me this way, but he didn’t see any other way to obtain the money. We then exchanged the cellphone and some 60 dollars.

I told him that I well understood his situation, and that in some way I didn’t really blame him for cheating me this way. What good examples in his life did this young man have to trust anyone for providing him with true help? None whatsoever. In his life, the only thing he understands is that if you see an opportunity, you grab it.

Our society if full of bad examples. And it seems as if even I have no choice but to stick to my own interests, because otherwise anyone – not just this young man – will grab what he can take from me.

Where do we start? Well, I will not turn my back to this young man. I will simply allow him a second chance.