Archive for June, 2007
#     Veterans day
Friday, June 22nd, 2007

“Take my hand
We’re off to never never land.”

In exactly one week from now, Holland will celebrate it’s National Veterans Day for the third time. This new-born tradition (founded in 2005 and followed by the UK in 2006) is an initiative by the Dutch government “as a gift to all Dutch veterans. An homage to those who fought for peace.” In Afghanistan and Iraq for example.

With the worlds growing disdain for war, the countries who are seeking wars or are actively involved in them are in need of some sort of tribute to their own efforts. Because when you’re investing billions in cash and risking thousands of lives, you have to establish acceptance in the minds of your people before they flip and go “WHAT THE FUCK?!”. When something smells bad, first thing to do is to take out your can of aromatizer and start spraying around, not? In this case, honoring war vets and boosting the feelings of national unity might be the perfect way to do just that. Putting the focus on soldiers of “peace forces” makes it look even more righteous. But stop for a second there, am I the only one who thinks the word “peace” looks a bit odd when it’s standing right next to the word “force”? Read the rest of this entry »

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#     Cigarette ash and good advice
Sunday, June 10th, 2007

“I found myself by circumstance
Across a room where people dance”

The bar stool wasn’t comfortable at all, but a safe refuge from the hectic middle point of the ongoing party nonetheless. The same uptempo Persian Pop song was blasting throught the speakers for the fourth time that night and the figures on the dance floor continued hopping up and down. The poet sitting on my right seemed to have given up talking to me. I glanced at him and watched him blow smoke rings and sip his gin. He turned his head and his eyes caught mine.

“You’re feeling quite lonely in here aren’t you?” He said.

He was right actually. I considered several answers and decided for:

“Lonely?”

“Yes. It seems to me that you’ve created a distance between yourself and all these people. Why?” Read the rest of this entry »

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#     Daddy what’s your name today?
Saturday, June 2nd, 2007

“Daddy what’s your name today?”

I tried to avoid eye contact and pretended to be playing with the five stones that I had found on the streets earlier.

“My name?”

“Yes.”

They were ordinary stones. Gray, brown and black. All of them about the same size. Together they were quite a hand full.

“What kind of question is that?” he tried to sound surprised.

“Because I want to know what name to call you.”

I noticed that one of the stones had little red spots on it, like freckles on dark skin.

“Well, you can call me dad.”

“Okay, but what do your friends call you then?” Read the rest of this entry »

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