Who we are

Here is a thought for the day. Who are you? Who am I? What makes us American, Dutch, German or any other nationality you can think of? What identifies us to the culture in which we come from and what guides us into the new culture we are itching to consume?
Someone pointed out to me a few things yesterday. Now I come from America and with that come a certain amount of attitude and back talk when someone points out a flaw we don't want to see. I should tell you, I didn't want to hear it at first. All the things I was missing and the things I wasn't doing to squeeze myself into this culture I have plopped myself in. I wanted to defend myself, give examples of why I couldn't or why I hadn't. It's what Americans do right? Well, I am Dutch now and do the Dutch argue the way someone from America might? Not at all. So, what were these things thrown at me in such a manner that I had no choice but to see them, acknowledge them and swallow them down like a giant horse pill? To answer that question I have to show you something that I have learned.
The Dutch have an interesting way of existing that I frankly never understood or even acknowledged for the most part. Do you know your neighbor? Do you know how to defend yourself, family and friends at a moments notice? I bet you couldn’t tell me where every item is in your home? They can with such accuracy it boarders on scary. Are you a pack rat? Someone who saves all the practical things for years, such as bags, containers and every bill and letter you have ever received in the mail? I can tell you from personal experience they have every bill and piece of paper ever received and asked about such a piece of paper can bring it out in two seconds. Why, because they love covering their butts. They know that the world is flawed and that if anything were to happen with the bank or the mail they can prove they did what was asked or can show what hasn’t occurred and why. There are four piles in our home. One pile is the mail just received, second pile is the bills that need paying, pile three is the pile that has been paid for the month and the fourth is the mail that isn’t a priority but we will look at when time allows. I have to tell you, my time in America and paying bills was not this organized. I have come to accept and fall into that pattern of the piles. I know not to touch piles two and three since they do not apply to me. I know I can browse through pile four and I put together the first.
Bags, lots and lots of bags are roaming in the pantry. Sandwich bags, storage bags, the grocery bags and the biggest of them all I call the granny cart. Were you aware that you have to pay for your grocery bags in the Netherlands? Ten cents for the plastic and up to five euro for the bigger more durable bags that will last you years if you treat them right. I know; we have had the same two bags for two years now. Why do they do this? Well, they actually have a few reasons. One reason is if you have to pay for something, you are more likely not to chuck it on the ground or in the river. Grocery bags are in every Dutch home. Some people keep them in a crate, the containers the milk comes in at your local corner store, and some keep them within a bag. We keep them nice and tidy in a bag. I will bring two with me to the grocery store on average. Major shops or trips to the market require the granny cart. Now these bags will last a while, even the ten cent bag which brings me to another reason, resourcefulness and practicality. Why buy two bags when you have two perfectly good ones at home? So fewer bags are wasted and less plastic used and abused in our environment. Waste not, want not. The Dutch take this to heart. While an American will go to the store and buy groceries and chuck the plastic and paper bags that will only last until they reach their doorstep the Dutch see a reason for making more durable bags to use again. More plastic and paper will be wasted when next they need milk bread or a bag of chips.
An American will easily use a sandwich bag once and chuck it in the garbage, or anywhere else they see fit, they will chuck their bills and curse later that they didn’t save it when someone calls saying they didn’t pay. I know; I used to be that very person, like so many floating around that big country. But why do the Dutch save and reuse virtually everything? They do it because they know what it is like to not have anything. Do you know what it is like to lose everything because water decides it wants its land back? I know I don’t but they do. I have learned that for many, they aren’t into having things just because they can. They have things because they have value in some fashion and they hang on to it because at any moment it could all be gone. I was that girl who wanted things just because. I was the girl who saw no reason to worry that something might happen. I have never been conquered, I have never lost to the sea and I have never endured the perils of having nothing. Which comes to another thing I was shown.
What would you do if your neighbor’s dog was sick or the old lady down the street needed an extra hand with her groceries? Would you even know that dogs name or the old lady down the road? They do, seriously, they do. They are a nation who talks to everyone. They know faces, names, dates and pets. They know where you work and what you like. They are a nation who loves their neighbor and will stop in the middle of the street to ask you how the baby is holding up in the cold or how your mother is because they know them too.
Now imagine if something happened. Mother Nature was in a mood or your neighboring country wanted your land what would you do? Would you wait for the military to come in and save the day or wait for the government to tell you what to do? Yes you would, as an American; you most certainly would because it has happened time and time again. The Dutch, when the government has gone on the tube and announced what is going on and what to do the Dutch already know and are already in the middle of doing whatever it is they need to do. They ban together, kick butt, save lives and fix what ever needs tending to before any authority has told them to do it. Why, because they love their land and their people. They are Dutch and the Dutch have endured long before America was even seen along the distant horizon. They will wait for no one and they will do it themselves because if they want it done and done right, their own two hands will do it. Their neighbors will call their names and they will come. That is the kind of nation this is. It was brought to my attention that I don’t know my neighbors names. I can remember their face but I don’t know much more than that. If something were to happen, I would be the scared little girl waiting for someone to save me.
I am Dutch now. I am Dutch and therefore I need to think Dutch. I need to be Dutch. I wanted to defend myself and tell my friend he had no right to talk to me like this. Yet I said nothing and listened. I need to learn that I am somewhere else. Kansas doesn’t exist in my world any more. Things were brought to my attention that needs to be attended to. I need to walk, talk, sleep, eat and think in the nation that I put myself in. I am Dutch. What makes me that way? Is it the land I step on, the buildings and customs or the language and history? It is all of it and more. It is a mind set and acceptance of those things that make people who they are. A German can be stopped anywhere they go just as an American can be pointed out. Why is that? It is because we take who we are with us, our own history, language and culture. Can you become German without being born there? I think for the most part you can. Forego all you know and submerge you in them and be as they are. So we are who we want to be. We are who we are based on history, experiences, where we have been and where we are going. We are who ever we want to be and all it takes is acceptance of that and what is around you.