Welke Oorlog

What do we often talk about when it comes to war, huh? Must be the age
Just think: When our parents were our age, back then
There was war
It's strange when you think about it. I didn’t really experience the war myself
And when I tell high school students about it
They say: Which war? The war, I say. And I know
Soon more people will die from hunger and lack
Every year than the total deaths of World War II... And when I see bread
In the trash, I don’t think of the Sahel, I think
Of the hunger winter
Recently, I saw a middle-aged man throw away two currant buns.
Then I thought: He must have been wrong back then
It sometimes creates weird problems. I have a neighbor who really hates
Black people and Surinamese and Asians
And he always says to keep a close eye on Jews, even though he
Has a great admiration for Israel. So I actually think
My neighbor isn’t worth kicking to death. But, he was in Buchenwald
And they almost kicked him to death there, and his brother was executed
In the war
And when I think about that, I find I have just a bit more hatred for
Germans than for my racist neighbor. And that’s not good, but I
Do have it. And, by the way, my neighbor didn’t invent
Racism. The whole Third Reich was based on it
And the fact that it happened to result in the extermination of the
Jews is just because there were so few black people in
Germany at that time
And what do I really know about the Second World War, huh?
Yeah, back then, at home, my parents talked a lot about it, at the table
And later you read those books by Dr. L. De Jong, and you watch a
Documentary. But that’s nothing compared to the war in
Vietnam. I know everything about that. I followed it closely because
There was television then. I saw it all
Bombings, battles, napalm on little kids, defoliation
Burned cities, executions, you name it. No, that war in Vietnam
I can dream about
And yet, huh, even when that war was at its peak, I still didn’t feel
That disgust when I saw an American tourist walk in
Even if that German is too young to have been in the Hitler Youth
I didn’t consciously experience the war. But I did see uprisings: In Hungary
Poland, Czechoslovakia. Civil wars: In Biafra, Jordan
Northern Ireland, Lebanon. Big wars: In the Middle East
Three, and that one in Vietnam counted as three. Coups, sure, twenty,
Complete with bloodbaths, torture, and the sympathy of the
Christian West. But I don’t lose sleep over it. I see it on
Television and I watch it with dry eyes
And I’m crying over Anne Frank’s diary. And that’s not good
But I do it anyway
And I’m sure that in thirty years, every Vietnamese will feel that same
Disgust when they see a loud-talking American walk into a store
And that’s not good, but they will.