292. “Non, je ne regrette rien.” (Edith Piaf)

STATVIEWS @ 19,918

I fondly recall my senior and former Landlord pal, Robert, stating circa 1962, after I had graduated from Theatre School in London, England: “So you are going back to Canada are you?” ‘YUP!’ I might have responded, or ‘EH?’…  “Well, don’t stay too long, ‘cause you’ll just be a big fish in a little pond.”

Although at the time such British ‘isms’ blew over my still mostly Dutch raised head – I was taking him ‘literally’ rather than figuratively - after all, in such a vast space as Canada, ‘How could one be a big fish in a little pond?   

Irony is, whatever geography you end up plying your innate self in, through character and circumstance one ekes out their applied existence. And, as such, in retrospect, ‘je ne regrette rien.’

Although his friend Joris puts the staunchly Dutch character well, by “ Echoing the Calvinist insistence on “being true to oneself.” The Dutch are almost compulsively truthful. Most consider politeness a cowardly form of hypocrisy. Bluntness is a virtue; insincerity and backhandedness are cardinal sins.”…

I feel I have managed to side-step some of the more innate intolerant (‘beknopte’) Dutch righteous views. ‘If you ain’t Dutch, you ain’t much!’ or, ‘You can tell a Dutchman, but you can’t tell him much!’ There can be an impenetrable air of snob superiority about these globetrotters who can be found in almost every Upper Dean spot’s university on the globe.  

But then again, there is always the point in conversation in which generalities creep to the fore; allowed, they ultimately separate (discriminate) the wheat from the chaff. I’m told Rudolph Steiner stated: “Before there is language, let there be meaning!”

Intriguingly, where the English allow for an acceptable ‘OK’ upon being asked: “So how’r ye doing?” The Dutch simply wouldn’t buy it!  “ ‘OK?’.. Schiet now op! Je zegt daar niets mee jongen!” The Dutch want to know exactly where you stand, if they ‘bother’ to even ask you. They’re an invasive lot; they own you. The least you can do is give them the details of your present situation.

But then, it must also be realized that most Brits aren’t really that interested in how you are… so, the shorter the answer, the quicker you can move on. Like after a visit: “Hope to see you all soon again.”  Not so, it’s the last thing on their mind; more like: ‘Thank God that’s over!’ J 

 That’s why English makes for such a perfect global tongue. En passant, I should add that in general the Brits do not much like the Dutch. Whether this is a remnant from all the sea battles between them, I’m not sure….