Whenever I feel sad, am whining, or am wallowing up in self-pity because of a job that I didn´t get, or am simply being ungrateful ..... I often turn to a poem by Emily Perl Kingsley. The poem is entitled WELCOME TO HOLLAND. It´s beautiful so I´m sharing it with you.... :)
Welcome To Holland...... by Emily Perl Kingsley
I am often asked to describe the experience of raising a child with a disability - to try to help people who have not shared that unique experience to understand it, to imagine how it would feel. It's like this......
When you're going to have a baby, it's like planning a fabulous vacation trip - to Italy. You buy a bunch of guide books and make your wonderful plans. The Coliseum. The Michelangelo David. The gondolas in Venice. You may learn some handy phrases in Italian. It's all very exciting.
After months of eager anticipation, the day finally arrives. You pack your bags and off you go. Several hours later, the plane lands. The stewardess comes in and says, "Welcome to Holland."
"Holland?!?" you say. "What do you mean Holland?? I signed up for Italy! I'm supposed to be in Italy. All my life I've dreamed of going to Italy."
But there's been a change in the flight plan. They've landed in Holland and there you must stay.
The important thing is that they haven't taken you to a horrible, disgusting, filthy place, full of pestilence, famine and disease. It's just a different place.
So you must go out and buy new guide books. And you must learn a whole new language. And you will meet a whole new group of people you would never have met.
It’s just a different place. It's slower-paced than Italy, less flashy than Italy. But after you've been there for a while and you catch your breath, you look around.... and you begin to notice that Holland has windmills....and Holland has tulips. Holland even has Rembrandts.
But everyone you know is busy coming and going from Italy... and they're all bragging about what a wonderful time they had there. And for the rest of your life, you will say "Yes, that's where I was supposed to go. That's what I had planned."
And the pain of that will never, ever, ever, ever go away... because the loss of that dream is a very very significant loss.
But... if you spend your life mourning the fact that you didn't get to Italy, you may never be free to enjoy the very special, the very lovely things ... about Holland.
10 comments:
wow, what a nice poem!
it is so true, i often complain on how often dutch people complain (and always about the weather!) until i realise that i've become one of them: whiner:(
i guess the best way is just to accept how they are and stay as we are.
thanks for sharing this!
++retno
aysus, kagayon man daw sadi. ka-inspiring.
thanks, this is very enlightening talaga.
that's a beautiful thought at the end of the poem (sounds like an essay to me). and i can very well relate.
i never dreamed of living in holland, my heart is all set for paris. but my heart was also overtaken by another love, the love for my man so i decided, what the heck, paris is just a couple of hours away anyway. and paris doesnt have windmills.
Retno: I still complain about the weather, and it has nothing to do with being a whiner. LOL I mean, let's face it, it's not really easy to live here. we only have like 15-18 days of sun in the summer.
Cherie: Amo, very inspiring. Minsan nalilimot ako maging grateful san mga blessings ko kay payt ko lang an reklamo san mga dili ko gusto didi. hehehehe
Gracie: o, pwede ka na magbuddha kay enlightened ka na. HAHAHAHAHA Ayaw kapikon ha? HAHAHAHAHA
@author: I know, it also looks like an essay to me. But people refer to it as poem. Maybe it is, maybe it's not.
Like you, I never dreamt of living in Holland too, or any European country for that matter. I thought that I will live and die in the Philippines because I couldn't bear the thought of being away from my family. I knew though that I was going to travel the world, because I am interested in other cultures.
But, here I am..... living the Dutch dream. Whatever that means. lol
A nice poem....and so true !
It stands true for everything in life, If we ponder too much upon what we missed or didn't have, we will miss the opportunity to cherish and realise the beauty of what we really have !
Lopa: John Lennon also said something similar. He said, "Life is what happens while you are busy making other plans." :)
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