Martijn, summer 2007
To my dear American Friends,
I can tell my deepest emotions in a few words: I really have become to appreciate you and your country. I met a lot of openness, had fun with you, and understand much better how your society evolved from the very beginnings. In these difficult political and economic times for you I want to say that there is quite a difference between a government and the American people. I have got to know you as so much more spontaneous, energetic and even more friendly than my own countrymen. Of course I had and have some serious criticism on how the system works, but I know a lot of you do too. But let me tell you this: almost every American visitor to us in Maastricht got by me the invitation to visit the American cemetery in Margraten (near to Maastricht) and Henri-Chapelle in nearby Belgium, where so many American soldiers died for the cause of real freedom in this continent. Maybe it because I belong to an older generation already, but I have always been aware of the terrible price your country paid on behalf of us. By the way, Maastricht was the first Dutch city to be liberated. I always felt at ease near to the dead in their graves: it is the mix of the consciousness of history, stillness, and the beautiful landscape that gives the feeling that we sense the bigger and sometimes incomprehensible whole around us. I got this same feeling many times when I was very near to nature when living with Suzy in Minnesota: the Indian Summer, the sail boats on the ice of Lake Minnetonka, or sauna near frozen Prior Lake. Thank you for sharing in the beauty of your people and nature!
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