A New Time
Column December 2007 Saturday 15 December 2007 Like so many people, I often lay awake at night for a little while. That’s not really a problem since experience has taught me that sleep will eventually return providing you don’t get yourself worked up over such sleeplessness. It’s nighttime and I am awake, thinking about Anton.Anton is the man I visit in jail as a volunteer. Recently, he had to go for an interview in another part of the country. He had not traveled the Dutch roads in a very long time and found that things had not exactly improved with all the traffic jams. On the way back they passed a small town he often used to drive by in the past as well. “That’s where I used to get eel on my way home from work,” he said. Nowhere else could you buy eel that was as good. When he would get home the kids usually were already in bed but they woke them up because daddy was home and he had brought eel. That was a feast for the family. I saw homesickness in his eyes when he told me this. Anton doesn’t see his children anymore. He hasn’t for many years. Alcohol destroyed what he loved and he lost it all - wife, children, and job - all gone. A while ago, a girlfriend of mine told me that there is such a thing as personal choice and that one can choose to either drink or not. It’s too easy to say that one can make such personal choices. I am no expert on substance dependence, but “it’s something that’s in here” said Anton, as he put his hands on his head. Anton looks back on his life, all that has gone wrong and all that he has lost. He is down. Still, it’s not all gloom and doom during those visiting hours. Anton tells many interesting stories about life in prison and there is much laughter in the visiting area. I heard that the inmates are very protective of the female prison employees and that men would be less likely to argue with one another in the presence of a female guard. When there is an argument, a female guard is better at solving the matter than a male. Evidently, women have a good influence on men and, to be honest, I don’t feel safer anywhere than in the visiting room at the slammer.
I lay awake and think about the mothers of the Slotervaartdijk in Amsterdam, the neighborhood where boys burned automobiles night after night. Some people demanded a tough approach while others argued that the kiddy bonus should be docked and the funds invested in proper guidance instead. The neighborhood fathers called a meeting but it was the mothers who sprung into action. They wanted their safe neighborhood back, they said, and organized a demonstration. Many children attended and all had a good time. It appears to have done some good, too. Politicians can learn from this example: When there are problems with youths one should consider involving active mothers, who are fast, safe, and cheap in their method of operation.
Sleep still won’t come and I think of the man I recently saw in the TV program “Man Bites Dog.” The man had to cry because every day children die of starvation and he was angry, too, because someone in the town of Alkmaar had won eighteen million Euros in the state lottery. Eighteen million! While in other parts of the world mothers have to watch their children starve. I felt the urge to cry right along with him. Not because of the eighteen million Euro prize – I am happy for the winner – but because the balance is completely lost; the gap between rich and poor is too wide. Oh, how I understood that man and his tears, and his feelings of powerlessness.
I am no longer dozing and thinking quietly, I am now getting myself all worked up about things that are wrong in the world. I haven’t even talked about golden handshakes and gigantic bonuses in private industry. Greed beyond words! It’s time the world changes and we put an end to poverty and greed. Why not reduce the prizes of the lottery and donate the remainder to a Third World country? The same for the exorbitant bonuses in private industry. There is no shame in sharing!
Suddenly, I had to think of George Bush and the American investigative journalist Seymour Hersch, who was on TV recently. Mr. Hersch is not exactly a fan of George Bush. Worse, Bush scares him to death, he said at the end of the program, because Bush could cause a Third World War. Indeed, that is an idea that would scare one to death and we can only hope that all will end well for the world and for Mr. Bush but, unfortunately, we have no influence on such matters. Though, perhaps, his wife does! You’d think that next year, she likely would want a nice, quiet time in their new phase of life and not a spouse who caused another world war and all its consequences. After all, such a man is not one to be proud of. Perhaps, like the Slotervaartdijk mothers, she should spring into action and diminish the fighting spirit of her husband. For heaven’s sake, the rattling of sabers has got to stop for it is high time for a new time.
I’m ready for some sleep, as I’ve mulled things over enough for tonight. However, to come back to Anton: He will enter therapy shortly. It won’t be easy for him, it will take time, and he will have to be strong, but there is a glimmer of hope and perhaps, one day, he will eat eel again with his kids.
I wish all of you a peaceful Christmas and a healthy and prosperous 2008.
Text: Dini Commandeur, Translation: Maria O’Neill