Sometimes I am ashamed to be Dutch, I used to be proud of my people, whenever there was a disaster in the world we collected millions of Guldens and after that millions of Euros to help those in need, it made us feel good and brought many smiles worldwide. We showed that as a small country we could make a huge impact and even put bigger countries like the US to shame compared to the amount of money they would donate.
But the last couple of years things have changed, what happened? What made us into such a selfish people?
I am writing this blog because this morning I was reading a post by Simon from Nick and Simon. I am not a fan of that group or at least not of their music but I respect them from performing so much and caring so much about other people (like most Dutch singers who sing Dutch songs, artist who sing in English don’t seem to be involved so much in society). Simon wrote yesterday a post about asking people to donate money on bankaccount 555 to help the people in the Philippines. He did not tell them to do that, he just asked that if you could spare it (and he also added that it was really if you can spare it since he knows most people at the moment can’t spare it) please donate money to help those who don’t even have food or a roof over their head.
Most replies were very kind and praised him for thinking about those in need and the said they would donate money but some people were just horrible and made me feel ashamed to be Dutch.
I know right now we are in a crisis and that we can’t afford everything we might want, we were used to buying so many things we did not need and now suddenly we need to be careful about what to spend our money on. It is a shame indeed and it is a very sad moment for us to realise that but that should not stop us from caring about others. Sure you can shout that the government or the big banks are to blame for the problems you have right now but what does that have to do with the poor people in the Philippines?
Didn’t Simon say in his post that only to donate if you can spare it because he knows not everyone can afford to donate money right now? He is not forcing you, nor is he telling you to do it and even so, you don’t have to do it.
Instead, you decide to complain about how horrible the big companies are and the government is and that the Polish steal your work (seriously? Still making a fuzz about that even though that is hardly the case? You do know that many people also sit at home because they refuse to do the work that companies let Polish people do because you refuse to do it? Like working in the fields on farms to get the harvest in.)
Instead of complaining, lets get our act together, let us become the friendly kind warm and open people again. Let’s show the world that in a time of crisis we still care about others because to be honest, I wonder, the people who complain so much, how much do you donate to the Voedselbank for example?
Because when I do my shopping and they are handing out those lists and ask you for one product, I bring them the whole list. Why? Because they need it more than me.
And that is why I will donate to bank account 555! I was planning on buying something nice this month but I will let that go and donate some of the money I was saving to the people in the Philippines because they need it more. (and dont come with those Voedselbank complaints again, I do my part, do you?)