Charity?
Reading time: 2 minutes
Some time ago, a friend of mine cycled from the town of Venray to a small village, in the southern part of the Netherlands. He rode along a wide sandy road across the desolate countryside.
After a while, he met a pedlar, who carried a small case on his back, containing mothballs, elastic bands and reels of thread.
“Good afternoon”, my friend said and he got off his bike in order to ask directions. The pedlar showed him the way and my friend started a conversation. “Well, how are you my friend? Who are you? Where are you from? Have you sold anything today? Do you have a family?”
During this conversation the pedlar’s eyes filled with tears. My friend asked of course what was wrong with him. “You are a hardy man, your face weathered by wind and rain and now you are getting sentimental? What’s the matter?”
The pedlar looked at my friend with tears in his eyes. “You see, today I went from door to door, I was growled at, some people cursed me and others set the dogs on me. I have not heard one decent word today. And now I’m meeting you, a total stranger, and you talk to me like a friend. That was too much for me. That’s why I’m getting sentimental.”
Uit: W. van Iersel, Dagboek van een arbeidsaalmoezenier (Utrecht 1950), p. 26 vlg.
Complementary:
“I prefer to understand all this from the point of view of those who were killed and vanquished, rather than from the point of view of those who have won.”
Citation of the Dutch historian Johan Huizinga, quoted in: A. van der Lem, Johan Huizinga. Leven en werk in beelden & documenten (Amsterdam 1990), p. 142.
Translated by Ite Wierenga