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Welcome at the blog of Dini Commandeur. I've written quite a lot of columns for various magazines. I also write short stories every now and then. These columns and stories are available for everybody at this blog. I'll release new columns and stories periodically.

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« With blood, sweat, an… | Home | The last week of June… »

Who is perfect?

Column May 2006 Monday 15 May 2006 While surfing the internet looking for information on a book by Guus Kuijer I stumbled upon a website about Heleen van Royen, a talented writer and a good columnist.  Perhaps you remember the article she wrote about the famous freeholder Rob Oudkerk?  This man told Heleen that he likes pornography and sometimes visits the ladies of ill repute.

He also said that on New Year’s Eve he enjoys a line of coke instead of oliebollen (a traditional New Year’s Eve dish similar to beignets or fritters).  Granted, it was rather dumb that he told Heleen all these things.  She assumed that he wanted her to spread the news far and wide, why else would he share these tidbits with her, a columnist?  Indeed… why?  In my opinion, the man was not quite lucent at that moment.  They were sitting in a café when he bared his soul to her, and when the drink is in the man…  (the wisdom  is in the decanter, as the Dutch saying goes…)  But she.. I can’t imagine that she was under the influence of alcohol when she wrote that column.  Fully aware she willingly brought the story out in the open, not only hurting him in the process but his family as well.  And why, for Heaven’s sake?  What was there to be gained?  Personally, I think it is unacceptable to make such matters public knowledge.  Even though Heleen is still a talented writer of bestsellers, I now look at her differently.  I always associate her with the column she should not have published but, of course, it’s not my business.  Just like Rob Oudkerk’s business isn’t mine either.  Heleen didn’t just damage Rob and his family with her column but herself as well.  There are matters you should not write about, regardless how juicy or exciting they are.  I would love to write a hefty piece about two musicians I saw on TV recently, who irritated me to no end. Of course, I could spew my discontent by writing about everything that was wrong with them in a poisonous but humorous article and in doing so wipe the floor with them.  It would be a piece of cake, but it didn’t feel right and that’s why I controlled myself, even though it still burns me up inside.

In the meantime, I am still surfing the net looking for that one book by Guus Kuijer.  Now I happen upon a website about the writer Neale Donald Walsch.  The book that made him famous is titled Conversations with God: Un Uncommon Dialogue.  Later, more discussions with God followed, as well as workbooks and diaries about this subject.  A little goldmine for the writer but according to him, God thinks it’s fine when money is made in an honest way.  There is nothing wrong with getting rich.  Neale should know because God told him personally.  I certainly believe that it is fine to make a good living in a decent way.  Other than that I don’t quite know what to make of books like that, although they are certainly worth reading.  Evil tongues have stated that the idea to write these books came from someone else in the first place and that Neale stole that idea.  Whether that’s true or not I would not know, as there is so much gossip and jealousy going around, so I assume that it was Neale’s own idea.  A golden idea, and not just for himself.  I am convinced that it made many people think and offered insight, support, and comfort.  One of the subjects that stayed with me the most is about perfection.  Neale writes that God doesn’t expect perfection from us and that we do not need to be perfect at all.  “Because,” God says, “if I wanted you to be perfect, I would have created you perfect.”  That’s how simple it is.  We are not born perfect and we don’t have to become perfect.  And getting rich is allowed, too.

But what would Neale think of John de Mol’s1 way of getting rich?  In his latest “Big Brother” program the objective is for the roommates to bully each other out of the Big Brother house and the finalist awaits a lucrative prize.  The bully is being handsomely rewarded for pestering the others.  Can it get much worse?  How crazy do you have to be to even think of such idiocy?  Such a program cannot be banned, but I hope that the advertisers still have some sense of values left and  will boycott this program.  Let them spend their money on enjoyable programs with depth, where people learn to treat each other better.  I believe that the audience can be directed – after all, they are pack animals.  Unfortunately, it is exactly this type of sensation seeking program that draws the largest audiences and, therefore, makes the most money.  Whether the advertisers feel morally obligated to boycott this program I sincerely doubt.

Meanwhile, I find on the internet the information about the book by Guus Kuijer that I probably would like to buy.  How a ghastly little god killed God.  Quite a different book than those by Heleen van Royen and, even though this book, too, is about religion, it in no way resembles the works of Neale Donald Walsch2.  Guus Kuijer will most likely not get rich from it, but he does give us important knowledge in this book.  Guus and Neale, and Heleen, too, have interesting books to offer their readers and we shouldn’t begrudge Neale all the money he makes from his discussions with God.  Loving money apparently is not a sin.   And even if it was, that would still not be that bad, because who is without sin?  Who is perfect?  Neale Donald Walsch and Heleen van Royen most certainly are not.  Rob Oudkerk and the musicians are not.  John de Mol and Guus Kuijer are not either.  And, fortunately, neither am I.

Text: Dini Commandeur, Translation: Maria O’Neill    

1 John de Mol is the Dutch TV producer of the reality TV program “Big Brother”

2  Guus Kuijers book  discusses, among other things, radical and fundamentalist Muslims and Christians and how they promote the god of hate, which, in effect, is an insult to the God of love,   forgiveness, and compassion.


 

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