A good salesman

Is it possible to get rich if you are a honest person?

Lately I think a lot about my grandfather or perhaps I should say grandparents since as a couple these two made it and with making it I mean they became millionaires. Hardly no one becomes rich over night so my grandparents worked for it. They survived the second world war and as I understood it wasn't too hard. With hard I mean they only once or twice saw a German pass by (or a soldier at all) and that soldier was kind, lifted my mother who fell of a gate and asked for the road. So no German stole their bike or robbed them and if it's true they hid Jews these German didn't care. At that time my grandparents had a small grocery shop and they weren't robbed either. Although people were close to starvation no one smashed their windows or brain which means there was some respect left in the very small village they were living.

The war, the damage of entire villages, cities, bombed houses was what made my grandfather rich. He made the best out of wrecked places and made money big money. So these few hundreds of gulden everyone received after the war to start a new life, build a new economy were well used. My grandparents didn't drink, perhaps back then my grandfather smoked. People didn't drink coffee the entire day. They watched their steps, didn't buy what they saw and nothing was wasted. There was hardly any garbage back then and I remember how my grandmother told me how she lived, her parents lived. They could do without television, all the luxury. They didn't need many clothes or special food to feel better, more healthy or important.

My grandparents were nobodies. Born in a very religious family with many siblings. A part died at a young age, others grew old, some studied, others only had a few years of primary school but you couldn't tell who studied or not. Reading and writing just like maths is something you learn in the first years at primary school. Once you know the trick you can educate yourself. Back then they did with books what many today not even achieve with help of the internet.

My grandfather was very talented. He could draw, became an architect and he made music. He could play a trumpet and most likely other instruments. He was active, took photos, wrote journals about his trip to Israel and had a hard life. A life without much love, understanding and the knowledge that it's easy to spoil your children if they have a certain character.

Most likely both my parents were busy, perhaps too busy to keep an eye on everything that was going on although my grandfather tried to be around in case of need.

I like to believe he was a honest person but today I am not sure. If you only have a few hundreds of 'Hollandse florijn' (Dutch gulden) it will be hard to be a millionaire. My grandfather became one. He never won a lottery or inherited something that was worth a lot of money. For sure the guy was a great salesman because he bought antiques, houses, furniture, books, paintings, jewellery and so on and it might be he not only owned it but sold it with interest.

The only way to get rich is if you let people pay way more for something that it's worth or you paid for it. If this is a honest thing to do is questionable but it's a way to survive, make a living. If wealthy people do it we say he's a great salesman and admire him if 'poor' people do the same we say it's scam and a scammer.

Different times make us believe different things, change our opinion about people. People we once thought they are great suddenly lose their creditworthiness, credibility and therefore their respect. Those heroes of back then are seen as traitors, thieves and it no longer matters if you made it on your own or won the Nobel prize. Today somehow it feels the same. It's war again and those 'good' years didn't last long. A wrecked country, damaged and hurt people fought for freedom, they built a better life that's flushed through the drain because it means nothing to us today. So perhaps it's good all those spoiled people, lazy demanding people start at zero again to learn to build a life of their own, to appreciate the really small things. A life without the right to visit school, watch television, own a car, electricity, internet and commercials that only make us want to own and buy more without ever being satisfied.

Happiness and satisfaction will never be recognized if you have it all or think it's your right to demand what you never worked for.

Saskia & Serge with 'Het zijn de kleine dingen die het doen' (It's the little things that do it) - 1972

Songtext (dutch)

Dat kleine beetje zon waar je al weken lang op wacht

Die uitgestoken hand die je van hen niet had verwacht

Dat kleine bosje bloemen en precies op dat moment

Die onverwachte brief als je alleen of eenzaam bent

't Zijn de kleine dingen die het doen, die het doen

't Zijn de kleine dingen die het doen

't Zijn de kleine dingen die het doen, die het doen

't Zijn de kleine dingen die het doen

Die kinderstem die kleur geeft aan een saaie grijze dag

Dat onverwacht gesprek toen je 't allemaal niet meer zag

't was even net als vroeger en je kreeg weer een ballon

Het geeft je leven kleur, er is ineens een beetje zon

't Zijn de kleine dingen die het doen, die het doen

't Zijn de kleine dingen die het doen

't Zijn de kleine dingen die het doen, die het doen

't Zijn de kleine dingen die het doen

We leven in het groot, we maken veel te veel mis waar

We praten wel, maar luisteren zelden naar elkaar

We kijken naar een punt en veel te weinig om ons heen

We zien geen kleine dingen en dus blijven we alleen

't Zijn de kleine dingen die het doen, die het doen

't Zijn de kleine dingen die het doen

't Zijn de kleine dingen die het doen, die het doen

't Zijn de kleine dingen die het doen

Translation by deepl.com)

That little bit of sunshine you've been waiting for for weeks

That outstretched hand that you did not expect from them

That little bunch of flowers and just at that moment

That unexpected letter when you are alone or lonely

It's the little things that do it, that do it

It's the little things that do it

It's the little things that do it, that do it

It's the little things that do it

That child's voice giving color to a dull grey day

That unexpected conversation when you couldn't see it all

It was just like old times and you got a balloon again

It gives your life color, there's suddenly a little sunshine

It's the little things that do it that do it

It's the little things that do it

It's the little things that make it go, that make it go

It's the little things that do it

We live in the big, we make far too much wrong

We talk, but rarely listen to each other

We look at one point and far too little around us

We don't see small things and so we stay alone

It's the little things that do it, that do it

"It's the little things that do it

It's the little things that do, that do

It's the little things that do it

Source

My grandfather died at a young age.

No need for him to survive another world war, to see the mess and chaos we live in today and start all over again. I never heard him say anything bad they say he never liked Germans. True or? If it comes to the seventies... Interesting is that during these years the number of songs about spoiled, unsatisfied people, a lack of caring and respect fort the elderly, commitment, love and loneliness and the messages to focus on the small things in life are innumerable. What caused is? Were these songs meant to get people through the crisis in the seventies out of the depression and wake them up? Today it feels as if we are back in the seventies. My grandparents died and I still hear on rainy days those songs of back then. In a way they comfort met and bring back the good memories, memories which have nothing to do with any war or oil or economical crisis.

German or not the singer Reinhard Mey was popular with his song 'Als de dag van toen' (1975 - Über den Wolken)

and his song 'Gute nacht Freunde' (1974) can still be heard on the national Dutch radio sender (since 1976) to close the broadcasting at midnight.

#kittywu #crisis #thoughts #war #life