jur kuipers
Welkom in de Verenigde Staten…
Onderstaande las ik net op The Huffington Post.
Mijn Hemel!
Het zijn net Nazi’s…
Landgenoot komt de V.S. niet in…
Why I Will Never, Ever, Go Back to the United States
Niels Gerson Lohman
After a year of traveling, I had planned a last, short trip. I was going to take the train from Montreal to New Orleans. The travels I had been undertaking earlier this year had brought me to places that were meant to form the background of my second novel.
This trip, however, was for my dad. He, a trumpet player, loved New Orleans and had died a year ago. It felt like the first sensible trip I undertook this year. I had been searching for ways to forget about the last hours at his deathbed. He had been ill for 15 years and his body just would not give up. It was a violent sight. I had decided the trip to New Orleans would put an end to those memories.
Usually, I barely plan my trips in advance. But this time I had booked everything: my train tickets, hotels and my flight back to Montreal, from which I would depart back to Amsterdam. In total the trip was supposed to take three weeks. The confirmations and tickets I had printed and tucked away in a brown envelope I had bought especially for the trip. I like things to be neatly arranged. At home, in Amsterdam, my house enjoys a slight version of OCD.
The first part of the trip, from Montreal to New York, is known to be one of the world’s prettiest train routes. When we had just passed the sign ‘Welcome to the State of New York,’ the train pulled over for a border check. I put the brown envelope on my lap. On top of the envelope I filled in my migration form with utmost dedication. I love border crossings. Forms don’t lie.
(…)
Niels Gerson Lohman besluit zijn relaas met: “But never, ever, will I return to the United States of America.” Wat er intussen gebeurde leest u op de betreffende site.
PS
Lees ook het Hollands Dagboek van jaren geleden door Niels Gerson Lohman en bekijk de bovenstaande documentaire van Emile Weiss.
Een citaat:
Om de mensheid ligt de rode draad die de menselijke waardigheid afbakent. Francis Fukuyama noemde dit factor X. Elke dag zijn we bezig de rode draad subtiel, maar vaak ook bombastisch te weerleggen. Buiten factor X bevindt zich het dierenrijk, aflopend in positie in de voedselketen en aaibaarheidsgehalte. De holocaust was geniaal in zijn systematiek. Neem bijvoorbeeld de mensen die als middel werden gebruikt om aan de lopende band van de vernietigingsfabriek te werken: als je aan een lopende band werkt, is jouw bijdrage aan het eindproduct zó te verwaarlozen dat jouw schuldgevoel gemakkelijker weg te cijferen valt, en er uitstappen heeft de dood tot gevolg, maar doorwerken is nog veel vernietigender.
