Mar 22 2007
All European
Today the Dutch government was celebrating the fact that it was 50 years ago that the foundation for a unified Europe was laid. I mean, it was an old idea that uncle Adolf had tried to impose on us earlier on without success, but for them it is all about future and there is no place for the past. Most Dutch citizens were not celebrating today because for them Europe is synonymous to the Euro, a currency they sincerely hate because it is their conviction that all goods doubled in price since its introduction.
So it was time for our politicians to remind us of all the good that will come from a strong EU. They even invited some school children who have no recollection of a beer costing 2 Dutch Guilders instead of 2 Euro (4.4 Guilders) to remind us older people of the joys and the happiness a strong European Union will bring.
Well, for me it was all water over the hill, because I already was all European at age 4, as you can see on the photograph above. Please do not think that somebody forced me to wear that silly German hat with a feather. At that age I was as clever as I was obnoxious, so I had insisted to live up to the German dress code before crossing the German border for our summer vacation — as a gesture of good will. I was deeply afraid that my mother would continuously remind them of the fact that she had lost her whole family in World War II. Just in case things went bad after all I wore dark shades so that I would not be recognized on later visits.