Column Daniel Luhuis: Dordwin-Dagblad Van Heet Norden

Two ears swim across the canal. Just before they got to the other side, someone said to the other side, “I can’t anymore, I’m swimming again.”

We all laugh. The whole class was in a crack. The master was able to tell a nice joke every now and then. But there was always a message behind it. You had to persevere though. We should have taken a test, and one of our classmates had shocked the center in the classroom, after half an hour toil with sums and tough questions, with an uproar and cuss. He had risen, turned his table, walked out of the classroom, and cursed. When the teacher calmed us down and took into account the boy’s test, he saw that his short-tempered classmate had already answered almost all of the questions. After a lunch break, the boy returned to class. No one said anything about what happened that morning. Only that joke came out. And that we always had to persevere, even if it seemed pointless.

Now that I’ve thought about it this way and sat in that class again for a while, I’m suddenly thinking of a book that this teacher sometimes reads for us. I don’t remember exactly, but I’ll never forget a few details. A pack of orange juice. The story was about a father and son who collapsed in Australia in the middle of the desert. The Master showed us on the globe how Australia can compare to Europe. And he told us that the strangest animals were walking there. And it was a big, dry place in the middle. What I remember from the story is that they started walking and it was very hot. They have finished almost all of their judgments. After another day of walking there was nothing but a can of orange juice. Despite the sun’s boiling and agonizing thirst, they took days with the pack. But then it is gone. They had nothing left. However, the boy and the father were ultimately saved by setting fire to it with the help of sunlight and the empty box. Sometimes I have to think about that. And to the master who taught us all kinds of things, but above all surrendered to never giving up.

We learned that from the scouts, too. When we went for a walk in the summer. In military uniform, with about six men, on unknown land in Germany, we walk by map and compass to the coordination that the directive gave us. Arrange your food by yourself. (We got a few cents.) Arrange your own sleeping space. Those were great distances we had traveled. Greatest lol. But also spicy, as it is called nowadays. Blisters. Just really tired. home sick. But we did not complain. We did not give up because that was not possible. We walked straight through large forests and over deserted land. There was no contact with the administration. We encouraged each other. Just a while longer The door you do And then tonight we lie somewhere on straw with a farmer in a barn. Then tomorrow is the most beautiful.