A long time ago, at secundary school, my teacher of Dutch asked me what my father did in the army. I answered with what I knew. He was with this unit and in charge of that. But what does he do, he kept asking me. I couldn't make my answer as being that what he would take as one to his question. Darn stupid teacher. Only now, in his late eighties, dad spoke about what he did back then. It sounded pretty important and now I know why he kept it silent for so long.
I'm now in my fifties and I praise myself extremely lucky that I actually spoke to people who experienced both world wars with absolute harsness for them and the rest of the Belgian population. My grandparents didn't speak much about those times, but when they did it was all about survival. Cutting down trees along the roads for firewood, butchering killed horses that were abandonned by either army, stealing from the local German Kommandantur, etc.
The respect was won and that's something that I feel is lacking in today's generation of leaders. When I visited Arlington National Cemetery I kept quiet, walked in silence to the grave of JFK and the immensely moving Marine Corps Monument. I looked there into the distance and saw how precious the sight was to the Lincoln Memorial. It moved me almost as much as visiting the Normandy American Cementary when I was a teenager. I kept silent.
Needless to say that some in charge nowadays at the highest levels can't somehow do that. It's only the tip of the iceberg but for me it's neverthelss very siginificant. I truly wish that the sight across the Potomac River and the Kennedy Center will be still there in the years to come. Ironically, I renewed just now my membership to a certain Belgian royalist association. Nothing near far right but nevertheless royalist and conservative to the bone.
The federal government of Belgium is nowadays led by Bart De Wever, who's a Flemish nationalist, and he's facing a political crisis cause by a major budget deadlock involving roughly €10 billion in proposed spending cuts and tax increases. The king, however, refused his resignation and gave him ten days extra to come to an agreement. Till Monday to negotiate a budget agreement and save his coalition government in the middle of a political shark tank.
My country isn't better than the United States or any other country in the West that still has enough regard for liberty, free press or the right of the individual to freedom and security in general. Today I'm very proud of the work that my father did in the Belgian army, because I can assure you that he did very essential work that made even US citizens working at Nato a lot safer. I wish that the current US president would show more respect to the allies of his country.
