And then it is also 28 years ago today that my mom died. May 4 is memorial day in the Netherlands and for me that day changed meaning in 1980. My two minutes silence at 8pm are since dedicated not only to those who gave their life in a war, but also to my mom. I was 23 when she died, she was 53. We both were way too young.


Memorial Day.
Last week the treaty was signed to open the possibility that Serbia becomes a member of the EC. And I find myself pretty triplistic about that.
One part of me - the European part, the non prejudiced part, the part I'd like to be - welcomes them open heartedly.
The second part thinks very Westeuropean centered and considers countries like Turky and Serbia 'not European'. But I realise that that is not as easy to define as like say Australian. Australia is an island, everything not on that island isn't Australian. Europe's borders are lines on the map of the world, people decide what is what.

But the third part in me has problems with 'Serbia, the warmongers'. The Serbs were/are the aggressors, the murderers, the culprits in Sebrenica. Warcriminals are still walking free in Serbia, the present Serbian government is not cooperating with the international tribunal, they don't want Kosovo to be free.

And I seriously am worried about them joining Europe, the EC. But I don't want to be like generations Dutch people before me who kept blaming the Germans for the war.

There's no end to this story. My mind keeps munching.