Ode to peace

 

Last September, Valkenswaard celebrated 80 years of liberation.

This commemoration is incredibly important,

Perhaps most of all for those who did not experience the war.

Because it is so easy to find peace to be very normal.

Something that has always been there. Something that is normal.

But is that peace really there?

 

The world has been on fire for a long time.

Society is deeply divided

And the future of our children is under attack.

 

And that leads to friction

We have to save the climate

While our personal sacrifices only solve a 1000th of a 1000th of the problem

We have to embrace everyone as they are

While what we don't know can often feel strange, alien, threatening

We have to help other people

While we also have enough challenges of our own

We have to, we have to, we have to do more and more,

and we are allowed to do less and less

Fly less, eat less meat, drive less, use less fuel, buy less, make fewer bad jokes

 

And what about my problems? You hear in response

Who still has an eye for that?

Because there is also poverty, and housing shortage, and inequality, and war, or the threat of it

And groceries are getting more expensive every week

There is fear, and there is stress, polarization, discomfort, suspicion, dissatisfaction

And in the past, for a guilder you could buy ………

 

And from that powerlessness

Or from opportunism

Scapegoats are sought,

And found, And threatened, And chased away,

And of course that doesn't solve anything at all

But it does distract

And it keeps us busy

 

Life doesn't get any more fun

And the light at the end of the tunnel is a very weak LED light

And we don't want a weak LED light at all, we want a big fat light bulb

The kind that you can burn your hands on, the kind from the time when everything was easier and better.

When happiness was still very common.

 

And in turn I say

That many of these complaints are true,

But many other problems are abused by politicians, for their own gain

Distorted, and put in a bad light

And not everything used to be better

And it is not the fault of the migrant

We do it ourselves

It is the policy that we have chosen

And re-elected and re-elected

 

And then we start to bicker and quarrel, and have a row, and yes, no,

And blame the kettle for being black

And that you are not allowed to say that anymore either. And that that is unheard of.

And what you or I, or at least the other, should all find differently and do differently

And so all time is wasted

And we become even more afraid, angry and unhappy

 

What if we just stay with ourselves

What dissatisfaction is preventing you from living in peace

With yourself, with the other and with the future.

Because you are what you can change, your actions and behavior, that is your responsibility

 

Imagine yourself

This is your situation: your food, shelter and health are guaranteed

For the rest, you live in more or less luxury,

And you don't want to lose that,

You think

 

But now ask yourself: What really makes me happy?

Not what do my neighbors, friends and colleagues have

Not what do commercials, influencers and algorithms say

No, what makes you happy .... And really happy, happy for a long time, not just for a while

Is it love, family, friends,

Creating something, learning something, discovering something,

Helping someone, doing good, doing nothing at all for a while,

The sun, the forest, the sea

 

That is all not for sale

 

 

Can less also be more?

Is consuming less perhaps the way to more time and attention for yourself?

 

Ask yourself another question: How do you want to be remembered?

By your children, and their children, and their children, and their children

For your career, your prestige, your status symbols

Or for your stories, your idiosyncrasies, your big heart, your friendship

And that you were a good ancestor

That you were willing to make an effort for others, wherever and whenever they lived

Human, animal or tree, you found them all important

You understood that everything was connected, interconnected,

That working together was worth it

For that special ball of life in that immeasurably black cosmos

 

Is a little less than a sacrifice or the fulfillment of who you really want to be

Is peace with yourself, others and the future perhaps the only way to true happiness?

And is it really so difficult to find and walk?

 

An old rabbi once asked his students: How can you determine the moment when the night ends and the day begins

Is it the moment when you can tell a dog from a sheep from a distance? One of his students asked. No, said the rabbi

Is it like you can tell a date palm from a fig tree from afar? Asked another. No, said the rabbi.

But what then? Asked the children.

It is like you can look into the face of a person and see your sister or brother in it. You see a fellow human being, a neighbor. Until that moment, the night is with us.

 

Dear people,

We are responsible for ourselves

We cannot change the world on our own

But everything is connected,

Every stone in the river changes the course a little

Let us bring light to the night and walk our path to peace

 

Take your torch and think of each other

Thank  you