Let stare

in this shining light

so that everything

becomes black

outside

~

listen to

their words

you never had

your own

~

both of you

admire

a past

you never looked 

~

and your fears

catch the light

stuck in you

between that past

and your dark

future

There were elections in Holland last week, and though I don’t live there anymore I still follow the news with interest. The parties on the right side of the right have won a few seats in the parliament, and that was disappointing. I did learned recently that in a country like Holland you always have around 20% of the people that vote way to the right or populist. This knowledge makes it a little bit easier to have peace with what’s happening, but it doesn’t make me want to move back. I left Holland for all kinds of reasons but one of them was the hardening of society. Here in Norway things are probably not all that rosy to, but even after 15 years, there is still a buffer between me and whats going on here. I make sure of this by not reading the Norwegian news and the character of the Norwegians helps to, they don’t talk about politics with you if you don’t ask them. In Holland it is all much clearer how someone looks at life, they tell you.

Democracy is important, it brought us all a lot of good. Democracy can also steer a country into ruins if a majority, and that is not always necessary, get a chance. Look at Nazi Germany, Trump’s America or Brazil. In Holland the mainstream parties ignore the brown-shirts but you never know what’s gonna happen in the future. I thought 15 years ago that it all would blow over but the parties of resentment only got stronger. It frustrates me, I just wish we had a democracy where we voted for people because we appreciate their competence as a human being and a leader. I have so much to say about this but don’t know how, for now I try it is some kind of short poem that highlights one aspect of the popular leader.