He looked below – A Christmas Story

The old man on top of the mountain looked to the valley below him. A bright shining star lit a little stable, only the old man exactly knew what was happening.
Down below a young woman gave birth to a boy, who would be known as the Messias, as the son of God. But in the meanwhile the old man realized, that this wasn’t right.
He remembered the Beginning, the creation of Paradise and man. He thought about the Forbidden Apple and how Eve didn’t obey the rules.
Strange, the creatures he loved most, never really obeyed rules.
And now a child was born, a child with a goal, a destiny. And only the old man on the mountain knew, what the childs faith would be.
But in the valley an angel sang, shepherds came to the stable, wise men were travelling from the east … they all honoured the newly born King.
And the old man … he nodded, and looked down. A child is born, to alter the future, to bring peace.
Slowly the old man walked away, away from this scene, away from his Son. Now it was His turn to wait how His beloved creatures would react now…

Euro

It’s almost ten years ago. Europe became united in a new strong coin, the Euro (€). But what has this unique coin done for us, the simple users of money?

Twelve countries, united on a financial basis, to become stronger and to stabilize  the monetary status of Europe. There were benefits off course. No more exchanging money, in twelve countries you could pay with the same currency.
But the difference came quick … my Dutch Euro is more valuable then the Greek  or Spanish Euro, so a Dutch bread costs 2 Euro but the same one is only 1 Euro in Greece.
And now … the Euro is in crisis. Big economic, highly trained executives and governments are dealing with it now, but what did really go wrong?

There are a lot of possibilities to tell where it went wrong, people blame poorer countries like Greece, Italy for this crisis. But all the Eurozone countries are the blame.
When the Euro came, old money disappeared. Every country in the Eurozone had the same currency, it was one big family. But a coin doesn’t make all those countries relatives. Every country kept its own standard. And that is one of the clues.
So, before the Euro, there was a difference between the richer West European countries and the South European countries. And that difference kept its place. The meaning of one currency was to create a front to the upcoming US Dollar. An united Europe, not only in words, but in currency also. Stronger and bigger.

All the economic genius have forgotten one thing… people. People want to hold on to what they had. Look only in their own purse, not in the purse of their neighbour. And want to hold on to the status they had, before the Euro.
One front … no way. Every country had the Euro, but its value differences. To the “outside” Europe had one coin, but “inside” the Euro was divided in twelve different coins, namely the twelve starting Eurozone countries with their own vision on the Euro.

And the people … the taxpayer … will pay for this vision …

Changing the weblogs

In Dutch I started some months ago a personal blog called Gewoon Paul. This week I decided to reorganized my weblogs and added a new one as the international version of my Dutch almost daily blog. In total I run 4 different weblogs:
IN DUTCH: Gewoon Paul (my daily blog), Druppels (short stories, poetry)
IN ENGLISH: It’s Just Paul (my English daily blog) and this one ofcourse.

Odds&Evens will still be my main English blog, but more and more a mirror to my story-weblog Druppels. Besides that it will also be my more cynical and critcal weblog about things happening around me or on this planet.
Just follow my weblogs to learn more about me….

Soccer Memories

The new season begins with the Johan Cruyff Scale. So we sat in front of the TV tonight, for a topper like this you just want to sit back. Besides, there was nothing else to see …
Names like Johan Cruyff always bring back some nostalgia , especially if one of the competing clubs is Ajax. I like to think back to our black and white television and our football nights with players like Swart, Hulshof, Keijzer.
The pictures that Stuy kept the goal of Ajax  clean, are moments to remember.
The whistle blows … ninety minutes  the best coaches in the Netherlands are in front of the TV … and see Ajax lose. No Scale this year, Twente wins … it doesn’t matter.

Impermanent Live

This afternoon I was asked if I could write a text for the cremation / burial of a client, who deceased last week. Now, I knew the man and had the past year the necessary conversations with him. So at the beginning of the evening I climbed into the laptop (well, writing is out of date, everything must be digital of course) and wrote a simple text.

Oddly there you are, thinking about how everything is impermanent. Thinking you celebrated just two weeks ago, the 13th birthday of your youngest daughter. Quick count, it means that my mom’s already 14 years dead. Time flies, life flies.
Unnoticed  I realize how it could be if she had lived. Or, even more, if my mother in law had lived. After all, who died in 1989, less than eight months before my oldest was born.
I think our lives are quite different than now,  perhaps all the steps that we have made in recent years,  did not happen.
Life and death are inextricably linked, both show that a transient nature of our existence. How important it is to occasionally do what you want to do. It indicates how fast time goes, but how to cherish what you have got.

Meanwhile mailed my text, I’m not sure I’ll hear what I’ve put on paper. I have day shift on the day of the funeral, and dutifully as I am, I already have noticed that I have to work, not able to attent a funeral / cremation.
I am not worried about it, the work I do, has simply extremes, and unfortunately … death is one of them.