Live And Let Live
So, by now you know that I’m Dutch. And those who know the Dutch also established that us cheese heads can be brutally honest. Sometimes this honesty, and the way we communicate it, can be perceived as ‘rude’. Which is a misconception. It’s all about ‘what you see is what you get’. Of course not all of us are the same. Some are downright rude, others are way more civilized. Many complain a lot, especially about noisy neighbors, politics and the weather.
Sometimes I complain too. I complain about folks who complain a lot. Who complain without grounds, on a lack of information. Who label without proof. Who never look in the mirror. There are plenty of those around. I’m not getting depressed about it but this mentality has me wondering. Were they a bank manager who went bankrupt in a previous life? Is it a faulty Dutch piece of DNA, a freak of nature? I don’t have the answer to that. But it amazes me.
Example: I used to live in an Amsterdam suburb called Buitenveldert, right under the kerosene vapors of Schiphol Amsterdam Airport. Just about the entire apartment complex I lived in was somehow involved in protesting against the airport. About the noise, the fuel stench, whatever makes an airport an airport. In my block, I was about the only exception. “Yeah, right! But you’re an aviation geek!” True. But this one has a thinking cap on.
We have a saying in Holland: “What was there first? The chicken or the egg?” Schiphol was established in 1919 as an 800x800 meter grass airfield. Slowly but surely this humble municipal airfield grew into the main international airport it is today. A ‘chicken laying golden eggs’ for our economy. We gladly use its planes to visit the world and expand our horizons. Those Schiphol protestors do too, on their way to their Spanish costa destinations.
Money is important for everyone. Especially for the Dutch. There is a reason for an American saying, ‘going Dutch’, everyone in a group paying the restaurant bill or taxi fare for himself. Like anyone, the Dutch like to buy their houses cheap. The closer to an airport, and its noise, the cheaper the house. So, the masses go buy, move in, settle down, and start complaining about that noisy, smelly airport that was there already. It’s not as if they didn’t know…
The Dutch also have Armed Forces. Army, Navy, Air Force. They are the protective shield, guarding our sovereignty, our way of life. To use a phrase from the movie A Few Good Men, they provide that blanket of freedom, under which the rest of us can sleep peacefully. They run TO something that we run AWAY from. They get into harm’s way, so we don’t have to. They, and their loved ones at home, pay a very high price for providing us with this blanket.
In order to effectively provide this service, our Forces have to practice. ‘Train as you fight’. At home, abroad, in good and bad weather, during day and night. They have to be prepared and be provided with all means necessary in order to do this. So that our Government, i.e. ’We, the People’, send them on their mission as safely as possible. Some of us say that our Forces have had their finest hour, are a thing of the past and will disappear within a decade.
That’s a great misconception, stemming from the New Age community with their ‘higher collective conscience’, a remnant from the Flower Power era. Their heart is good and loving. I applaud them for it. One has to start somewhere in order to achieve this loving, harmonious world. But, they can have this luxury of thinking because of that protective blanket that these ‘obsolete’ Forces provide, for as long as millions will still be living on the ‘dark side’.
Right now, as we speak, the Royal Netherlands Air Force is in the middle of a lot of flying exercises in our small country: “Frisian Flag”. One of those necessary operations in order to hone their skills. And, of course, immediately that typical Dutch complaining mentality surfaces. Especially around our Airbases. The deafening noise of those jets keeps the kids awake, residents can’t make out conversations on phone or TV. I know, it’s a drag. I hear you.
Accidents happen too during operations like these. Better here than in harm’s way. Not long ago, an RNLAF Apache helicopter hit some electrical cables with its rotor during these evening operations. Luckily, nobody was hurt. But the incident caused several thousands of homes to have no electricity for a while. And immediately the bashing started. An immense criticism about the how and why of these flight operations. Many ‘keyboard warriors’ here.
I’m sort of a ‘keyboard warrior’ too. However, I’m the kind with that thinking cap on. My advantage is that I know the typical men and women within the RNLAF. My prerogative as a long-standing military aviation artist. I’ve seen the professionalism and dedication first hand. I know for a fact that the Apache crew back then were bashing themselves harder than any outsider could do. But, like an RNLAF friend said, “ we’re not in the hairdressing business.”
We want our protectors to be professional and proficient. Safety first, for our blanket of freedom as well as for their own health and wellbeing when sent out on a mission, even to Eastern Europe. Hence all that training. We could extend them the courtesy, out of thanks and respect, of letting them do their thing. So that we can do our things. Both badly need each other. More than many of us realize. The name of this game is “live and let live”. Thank you.
