Jon and I are again in the process of our annual residency renewal and one of the requirements is new photos. We are in our fifties and the truth be told we don't change much from year to year, but no photo older than six months is allowed, so we help sustain the photo industry with new photos each year at $30 a pop for the two of us. Normally this is a simple thing - sit on the stool, don't show your teeth, no smiling, expose both ears for facial recognition software, and snap, snap, snap. We pick the best of a bad lot and we are done.

This year our photographer was a young man who, when he found out we were American, wanted to talk a bit of politics. Normally if a European wants to talk politics with an American, it is about American politics, healthcare reform, Obama, etc. This young fellow surprised us by wanting to talk about the politics here. He shared with us his frustrations with the parliamentary system of representation. I knew a bit about it, but I didn't realize how little representation it actually gave and in many ways, how little of a sense of control in government for the people. In this system you vote for a party. If one party gets a majority, then they govern. If not, which is the usual case, then they must form a coalition. They have twenty or so parties here in Holland. The people do not vote for their Prime Minister, their equivalent of our President. He is chosen by the parties. He shared how he voted as conservatively as he could, but he said it didn't matter much here. There is no black and white in politics, just shades of gray. There is no one representing your area or a particular constituency. Instead the parties represent ideas or philosophies. For example our neighbors are proponents of the Dieren Party. This is the party for the animals. Their goal is to promote animal welfare and rights. They actually won three seats in parliament in 2006.

They also have a queen, Queen Beatrix, who functions much as the British monarch does. She and her family seem to be much beloved here. They have had a Queen for several generation, though Beatrix has broken the cycle by producing three sons, but the Crown Prince has returned again to the female fold by fathering three daughters.

He shared with us about their constitution. It has one important provision in it and with that one simple statement, he felt their constitution was deprived of all meaning. It ends with a statement that he summed up as saying, " Any law passed will overrule anything in the constitution." He called it a worthless document.

He was frustrated that the people of his nation, when given the chance, have often voted against European Union laws or initiatives, only to have their vote dismissed and their parliament pass the law anyway. Of this, we were aware. This has happened in other EU countries as well.

He talked about the conservative talk radio movement in the US and how many people listen to it. He shared with us about the one, somewhat more conservative, radio station they have here and that it has low listenership. He longed for a place to hear his own ideas expressed and shared by others.

It was actually a brief conversation, but we understood his frustration which amazingly had no bitterness in it. He is a young man, maybe in his mid-twenties. It was refreshing to see a young person who cares about politics and the course of his nation. I don't know if that is common here in the Netherlands, but more and more the young people of America are opted out of the political spectrum and their voting levels are usually low.

All of this as well as the things happening politically in the United States reminded me how important is the Biblical admonition to pray for our leaders that there may be peace and the spreading of the gospel. Being here has made me realize that though my prayers for my nation seemed large, they fell far short of encompassing the globe which is what they should have done. My horizons have enlarged and this encounter with this young man reminded me of that necessity.

Pre-Op

I have entered fully into the Dutch health care system with the latest attack from what has turned out to be gallstones. It took about two and a half months to finally get testing done and a final diagnosis. I had my first spell in April which I wrote about previously. I had another one which began on July 9th. That was a Friday and to escape the oppressive heat we sought one of the two spots in town which have air conditioning - the grocery store and McDonald's. Since it was too hot to cook, we chose the latter. Not a good choice in retrospect, but hindsight is the only thing I have which is 20/20. Later that night I was not feeling well with a kind of indigestion-y sort of feeling which bloomed into pain the next morning. I recognized the sensation and after a few hours Jon and I decided to head for the hospital. We knew this thing needed a diagnosis and not just the best guess of the doctor which is what we received last time. Fortunately as I was getting ready to go, Jon emailed our colleagues about our situation. We heard back immediately from our friend that we could not go to the hospital. (What we cant go to the hospital?!?!) If we did we would be turned away unless I was having a heart attack or something of that seriousness. I would have to go to the huisarts first. That is the family doctor. Since it was now Saturday morning, I could not go to my regular doctor and therefore went to what seemed to be an emergency clinic for Saturdays. It was a doctor's office in the Fire Station/Police Station/ EMT building. We called for an appointment and were told to come right in. We did find that we had to pay before we would be seen and unlike just about every other place in town, including McDonalds, there was no debit card machine. Fortunately between the two of us we managed to come up with the 84E necessary to be seen by the doctor. This is about ten times the rate we pay our regular doctor for a visit. We waited a bit, then I got prodded a bit and questioned a bit and he came up with the diagnosis of a stomach problem and he gave me an antacid. It did hurt in my stomach area, but it also hurt on the right side and in my back. So we went home, lighter in the pocket and still in pain. I took the antacids, but they didn't help. Sunday the pain eased some in the afternoon, but it refused to go away. I tried to eat a few bites on Saturday but it wouldn't stay down. So I fasted and waited for Monday and we headed back to our regular huisarts. We didn't get our regular doctor since he was on vacation and it turned out to be a very good thing, because we haven't been very pleased with our regular doctor and this guy turned out to be just who we needed. He did a more thorough exam, including checking me for appendicitis. He ordered blood work and an ultrasound. He suspected gallstones, but he ordered a thorough ultrasound which covered most of my digestive organs. I went home to wait. The ultrasound was in two days. That afternoon I got a call from the doctor telling me that he had gotten the blood results back and I had an infection. He said we needed to come by his office and get a letter, so we could be admitted to the emergency room of the hospital. Cant get in without one. So we headed to Ede, a town nearby. We went to reception and then waited a while. I had a screening by a nurse, I presume, where they asked me some questions. Then we waited some more. After a bit I was admitted. They put in an IV port, but gave me no saline, though I was so dehydrated my urine was nearly brown. The nurse commented on it, but no fluids were given.They did another EKG and took more blood for testing. We sat and waited. Finally a doctor of some sort, or maybe a resident came in and talked to me and then relayed what I said to a surgeon. She returned and relayed that the surgeon also thought I had gallstones and then they sent us home with an appointment to return tomorrow to talk to a surgeon. When we asked about getting an ultrasound that evening we were told it wasn't sufficient cause to have one done after hours. They still did not know the source of the infection, but I was given no antibiotics. So I was admitted, spent a couple of hours, but received no actual care. Since there was the possibility of an ultrasound the next day, I could not drink anything that evening and my appointment wasn't until 11:00 so now that I was able to hold a little liquid down, I was not allowed to do so. The dehydration continued. The next morning we wandered our way through the hospital finding out where we needed to go and finally saw a surgeon, though he had no idea why I was there. Since I had an appointment for the next day for an ultrasound, he could not get me one that day. So we headed home. A short period where I could eat a little and drink what I could before fasting both again, for the next morning. I arrived for the ultrasound and was told by the technician to strip completely naked. Now I had heard about this part of the Dutch medical system so I was prepared. I understand the need for a certain amount of access for medical personnel, but this was strip naked, no gown, no sheet, nothing for an ultrasound of my belly. Just sprawl yourself out there in the middle of the room on the table. Since I protested she allowed me to keep everything on from the waist down. I protested further and was finally allowed to keep my bra on as well. Believe it or not, it didn't inhibit the ultrasound at all. It was extensive and thorough and strangely painful. I thought she was trying to press the ultrasound thingy all the way to my backbone, but was glad to endure it for a final diagnosis. When all was finished the technician told me the huisarts will get the results in four working days. I was thinking that is more time passing before we know anything and I am still in pain. So the visit the day before that we thought was a waste of time, turned out to be an unexpected gift from the Lord. Since we knew where the surgical examination rooms were, we walked down there to see if it was possible to get an appointment with a surgeon to look at our results. We were allowed to do this since a surgeon had also requested the ultrasound. They let us wait and within a few minutes a surgeon had looked at my file, seen the gallstones, and ordered the operation to remove the stones. He made a note "as soon as possible". We are sent down to arrange for a pre-op exam by the anesthesiology department to see if I am healthy enough for surgery. While there we wondered about going around the corner to see if we could get a date for the surgery. Nope. That has to come by mail. So we waited. Eleven days after we started this journey we finally hear that we have an operating date. It was for August 13th. More than three weeks more to wait. In the meantime I had to be very careful about what I ate so I could "keep my gallbladder calm." It felt like a ticking time bomb in my belly.

Since Jon and I were in the States when the whole national healthcare bill debate and vote occurred my mind has been often on the healthcare system of the United States. As a family we have had no health insurance and had a baby during that time. We have had great insurance and insurance that was just okay. We also had no insurance for three years while we were on the mission field the first time. I have to say that I was not happy to see the healthcare bill pass in the US. I think our system had some holes and people fell through them, but the answer was really a very simple one. Let people without insurance buy into the medicaid (governmental) health plan (This is the system that covers the poor and the elderly already in our country) if they wanted to at an affordable price. Problem solved. The one thing that is used as a mantra by those who wanted to push healthcare reform in the US was the idea that everyone needed to have access to healthcare. The truth is everyone had access to healthcare. I know. We lived it and when we had no insurance we used resources which the church and other charitable organizations have set up to help fill the gaps in day to day healthcare for folks. Everyone, always, had access to emergency healthcare, regardless of insurance or not, foreigner or not, illegal immigrant or someone with premium insurance. The one thing that struck me most about my experience during this health issue is my lack of access to healthcare. If I had been in the States I would have gone to the hospital on Saturday. Had an ultrasound that day and probably had the surgery that day or the next at the latest. I would have been well on my way to recovery long before I even had a diagnosis here and my extra pain and suffering would have been avoided.

A neat and tidy Amsterdam

On my recent trip to Amsterdam we saw a work crew cleaning up the sidewalks of the city. Two men with twig brooms were sweeping, or better stated, trying to sweep the sidewalk while a third man used a stream of water to push the garbage to the curb. What struck me about this is that the men were using a bundle of twigs tied to a wooden pole to try to sweep the sidewalk. My first thought was that this was the third millennium and here are men in a western country in a modern city trying in vain to sweep a sidewalk with a very primitive broom. I wondered why they didn't have a modern synthetic broom, or even one made from straw. Either would have worked better than what they had. My next thought was that they couldn't use either one of those here because you cant buy one. At least I haven't been able to find one. My interest in brooms comes from my own broken broom sitting in my closet and my recent hunt for a replacement. I confess it hurts my back to bend over and just use the bristle part for sweeping (the broom portion has broken from the plastic handle and cant be repaired) or to use my little hand broom for bigger jobs than it was intended for. You can get push brooms very readily. They are available everywhere, but they aren't useful in every circumstance, as the sidewalk cleaners know. At first when I couldn't find them I thought it was because the side sweep broom was unknown here, but seeing the brooms in action in the city made me realize that they were. So now there is a new question. Why wasn't this type of broom updated when the push brooms were invented or imported or updated? Why is it not available? Does everyone who needs one simply get a branch-style broom? Do they make their own? I've never seen one for sale - at least not that I have noticed. Is it a decision to support an ancient craft as part of the culture, like laying bricks for roads and sidewalks? A simple thing to spend so much time pondering, perhaps, but I find there are keen insights into a culture by understanding the "why" of something they do. What lies on the surface is the observation that things are much harder than they need be. What lies under the surface is often a reason that reflects some fundamental and powerful cultural value.

A trip to Amsterdam

My sister was here to visit and since she wanted to see the Anne Frank house, we made a trip into Amsterdam. We went early to avoid the long lines that can sometimes develop at the museum. We took the train in, since we cant really get into Amsterdam by car in the mornings, unless we head in before 6 in the morning. Sections of the highway become a parking lot with morning commuters. We used to be able to buy what was called a strip card to ride the buses and trams in the cities, but this has been done away with. Instead residents can go through a fairly complicated two day process to get a special card which they can then load with money electronically to use to pay for passage on buses and trams. However you cannot use this chipcard to pay for anyone else riding with you, so anyone not possessing the chipcard must buy a day pass. It cost 7 Euros each - about 10 dollars. Since the house was only a mile or so from the train station we decided to hoof it and save our money. We got into the museum in short order and shuffled our way through the exhibit and then into the Annex itself. We both had just finished rereading Anne's diary while on our trip through England so the events that she wrote about were still fresh in our minds. She and the others suffered a lot living in such tight quarters. I recognized the tremendous stress the occupants were living under from the quarrels and behavior that Anne wrote about. The museum is empty of furniture and it is sometimes hard to imagine how crowded and cramped it was there. However there are two things which poignantly bring back to me the human factor of this empty place. One is the pictures that Anne pasted on her wall - movie stars, cute children, colorful photos. She was just a girl when she went into hiding. The other was the small map on the wall where they were using pins to plot the Allies advancement towards the city. It made me think of what hope they had to finally be free of their little prison. Just a month before the Allies made it to Amsterdam, someone made an anonymous phone call to the police and turned in these folks. How evil is a heart that would do such a thing. The Germans were losing. They were being pushed back. Many, many Dutch people opposed the Nazis and there was much done to save Jews and others from death in Holland, but there were also those who collaborated and there was even a Dutch Nazi party. Antisemitism knows no national border. It can be found everywhere. No one has ever found out who did it. They were on the last train that left the area for the death camps. Everyone, but Anne's father perished in the concentration camps. Her mother, her sister, the single man who joined them, and a family of husband, wife and teenage son. All dead. Anne herself died of illness just a month before the end of the war itself. Perhaps if she had known her father was still alive, she might have held on. Perhaps the accumulation or stress and suffering over those years of confinement had finally robbed her of the will to live and even the physical strength to stay healthy. I do not know. I do know she has put a face on the holocaust like no one else has.