Not just another day ...

It is my last day in Europe and after seven weeks it is time to head back to Vancouver. As usual the wrap-up takes place in my town of birth, Vlaardingen, where I did my morning stroll along the old harbour this morning. A beautiful start of a day that is not just another day.

First, it is sixty years ago that JFK was murdered in Dallas and it is always a moment to reflect on and dive into the many theories around his death. And so it was this time around and last night I sat through some local talkshows that were discussing some new theories and evidence. Yes, it is a story that will animate us forever and I am no stranger to keep reading and digesting all of it. But what has actually stuck in my mind is a documentary I saw years ago that was focused on the actual day leading up to the murder and it focused on JFK’s night and morning in Fort Worth. In a series of interviews with those that were there at the time it reconstructs just another day in a presidential tour. A young boy managed to shake JFK’s hand at the breakfast function in Fort Worth and enthusiastically told the president ’I am Catholic too!’ It was the proudest moment in the kid’s life and as the man recounted decades later he could not believe how back at school later that day they were informed that JFK was dead. He could not wrap his around it: ‘I just saw him and shook his hand’! Six decades on we are as puzzled as the little kid whose dreams were shattered and who was left in disbelief.

That emotion also describes October 7 and how it destroyed some of the things we hold dear. It was that sort of day. And yes, there is now a hostage deal which generates disbelief too. A pact with the devil where very little is given in return for what is extracted from Israel. Not an easy arrangement and it took a while to get done, but it needed to see the light of day if only to see the release of mothers and children out of the hands of Hamas. They have spent nearly seven weeks in unimaginable circumstances and are traumatized for life, no doubt. Kids can generally bounce back quicker than adults though, but it will be a long journey. The men are left behind and the ceasefire will expire in a matter of days and we will likely slide back into war with less hope for the remaining hostages. But again: lives needed to be saved, a terrible deal is better than no deal in this case.

And today also the Dutch are bracing for a wild election results night, the international press caught on to report on the likely and possible rightward shift. Results will start coming in in the next few hours, I will analyze upon my return to the West Coast.