Dear At, dear learners,
When eating my daily apple (Granny Smith), the small sticker on it tells
me that it comes from Cape Town; I am enjoying South African fruitfulness!
When I enter in the morning my office, I open my mailbox looking for
messages of At de Lange. And if there are, I am enjoying South African
fruitfulness!
And regularly my thoughts migrate to South Africa and I enjoy this mental
touring.
Why did the fresh Granny Smith traveled to the Netherlands? Despite the
physical barriers of oceans and despite the large distance?
Because for Granny, its producers and its consumers it is profitable.
There is an economical and a seasonal reason: the birth of Granny in the
Southern Hemisphere happened in a season when there are no fresh apples in
Europe; the pile of apples in SA is higher. And also because a better
price is made by exporting it than selling it in SA; the pile of money in
Europe is higher.
Why are my thoughts travelling to South Africa? There are no physical or
mental barriers. And At makes his messages so attractive that they beg for
connection and learning. The pile of longings is high on this side and the
pile of information is high on At's side. These messages are more
attractive than others, so my mental compass needle turns - even after
some desorientations of the compass - towards the south. My flow of
thoughts runs and meanders towards the southern seas.
Well, so far some principles of movement have passed. Movement in the
physical world (apples, money) and in the abstract world (thoughts,
communication). Much of these principles could and may be compared with
running water and rivers. For the moment I will not enter in things like
erosion, leakage and dissipation.
The story of At is so rich in all these principles that I wonder if we
recognise them all.
Let me sample and systemize:
Which are attractors:
- curiosity, information
- economy
- safety
- victoms/food for preditors, mafia, etc.
- chalk and other nutrients
- belief and religion
- hungry stomachs
- fruitful soil (for crops)
- fruitful bodies (for deseases)
Which are barriers:
- travel distance and road conditions
- frontiers of countries
- Sahara
- Aids/ebola
- oceans
- wild animals, fear, insecurity in Kruger Park
Which are carriers:
- different sorts of vehicles
- human beings (for deseases)
- chalk (for information transfer)
which are the movers:
- At + compagnions
- tourists
- deseases
- criminals
- refugees, immigrants
- information, thoughts
South Africa is confronted with the problem of receiving large numbers of
immigrants, as in Europe, as in the United States. Here in the Netherlands
we expect the next year over 60.000 refugees + another 18.000 non-Dutch
immigrants. We like to host them, despite that we live in the densiest
populated country of the world. The total of 78.000 new potential
habitants is roughly 40% of the natural birth rate in the Netherlands.
Compare these figures with those of At (which is hardly believable!), and
the average density per square kilometre (Netherlands: 459), with figures
from your own country. Here we reach the stage that we simply don't have
the space to house everyone. At this very moment we have to receive new
imm igrants temporarily in tents. But this is still rather organised and '
luxurous' compared with At's descriptions.
The refugee matter is one of the most emotional happenings one could
imagine: leaving the (safe) grounds of birth and living, leaving
everything behind what is known, familiar and trustworthy to exchange this
environment for a completely unknown and insecure future. This is a
culture shock that is even far more heavier than the shock of At and his
friends (look at the eyes of refugees on TV and you will see the result!)
The pile of longings and the repulsive forces of origin in comparison with
the attractive forces of destination must be enormous.
How to stop this world wide problem of migrating people looking for safety
health and richness?
At gives the clue in his message: diminish the differences between origin
and destination. Barriers (rules, laws and other regulations at
frontieres) oceans and others have only temporary results. It is like the
barrier dam in a river: overflow continues with the same speed as the
original river, and if the barrier bursts, a disaster happens. That is the
warning of At.
At with your permission I will use your story for my Panta Rhei book and
for the lectures I soon will start here at the university.
Thank you for sharing your tour with us. I was shocked as well, I am
busy replacing my personal shock absorbers.
dr. Leo D. Minnigh
minnigh@library.tudelft.nl
Library Technical University Delft
PO BOX 98, 2600 MG Delft, The Netherlands
Tel.: 31 15 2782226
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Let your thoughts meander towards a sea of ideas.
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--Leo Minnigh <L.D.Minnigh@library.tudelft.nl>
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