Travel opens one’s eyes, and mine have seen the naked truth.
I arrived in Brussels the other day for a short visit with Family and friends, and what I have seen and experienced has confirmed my long held beliefs, and suspicions.
Former colonial “masters” are no better than us, nor have they ever been. We were simply hoodwinked.
They are NOT as culturally polished as we are. The opposite is true. No comparison. Yes, truth hurts, and I am saying it without apology or fear of contradiction.
Hear me out, for a moment.
Arriving at the Brussels international airport and clearing immigration is a nightmare. There were only three immigration stalls open, and hundreds and hundreds of passengers lining up to be cleared. It took me two and half hours to be granted entry.
Upon approaching the booth where a mean-looking and un-kempt Belgian immigration officer thought he was “King of the Hill”, I submitted my passport. Not once did he look at me, or even say good morning, or welcome me to Belgium. What the hell.
For about five minutes he turned the pages in my passport, not sure what he was looking for, proceeded to ask me the following:
How long are you here? Why are you here? Are you going to seek employment — really, even at my age? Who do you know here? When are you returning to the US?
I was hoping he would ask me what I think of Belgium and its inhabitants. Never got that chance to un-load on him. Only thing he could have done was to send me back to Texas where I had traveled from.
But I was also afraid he would ask me if I knew who killed Jesus. I jest.
Exiting the airport you would NOT think you are in a City that houses NATO headquarters and the European Union.
The streets are un-swept. Grass not mowed. There is a serious lack of purposefulness. I confess, whenever this happens on my travels I get “Kigali flashbacks.”
Upon inquiring, I was told that the 15th was “Assumption of Mary into heaven” — a day that the Catholic Church celebrates, with reverence.
When I inquired what this has to do with the cleanliness of the City, I was told that in July-August, every year, sanitary workers, mostly Arabs and other foreign workers go home to visit their families.
Being a non-believer all this malarkey did not add up. Never did I know Mary also went to “heaven”, not that I have any qualms a mother joining her son. I just want to dis-abuse people of this myth that there is a place called “heaven”.
Finding a restaurant that was open was impossible. If Mary goes to heaven, so it is alleged, people should not eat?
And don’t talk about the Belgian banking system. So antiquated for an allegedly non-Third World country. I beg to differ. Finding an establishment that accepts credit cards is a challenge, yet on my last visit to Kigali this was not a problem — in Kibagaga, Kimihurura or Gisenyi. So, who is “Third World”?
And Belgians colonized Rwanda, Burundi and the Congo? Really? How did this happen? It is a judgment we cannot forget as a people, because now that we are able to engage them one on one, as equals, and examine their ways, and culture, and the way they do things and run their country, shame on us.
If truth be told, without Congo’s riches Belgium would be worse than they are today, and I am being civil.
In a nutshell, Belgian mentality is very country, as Americans would say, limited in scope and vision, very condescending and, I don’t give a hoot about it. How do you go through life, not smiling, never acknowledging other humans around you?
This is my opinion, what is yours?
In the words of Donald J Trump’s limited, pedestrian vocabulary that I am embarrassed to repeat, what a “shit hole” country.
All said and done, my heart is at peace, knowing that there is a land of A Thousand Hills that I will always call home. The rest is a dance in the dark.
