A fine young Dutchman

Just returned from San Antonio. Matt and I took a quick trip down there for the night/day as a partial birthday celebration, which was in reality more of just an excuse to get away.
We had a good time in the short time we were there.
We met and had dinner with Sara Draper, which will probably be the last time we see her before her wedding.
Then we cruised the River Walk for awhile looking for something cool to do.
We only found one bar we were interested in, but it was packed so we trudged on.
We finally ended up back at the hotel bar and hung out there as bartenders pushed one of the last legal drugs.
About 30 minutes before closing time we met an interesting Dutch man. There was some sort of horse convention in town and he was there to network at the event.
We talked horses, politics and religion. It was a great conversation – and you can’t get upset when a Danish horseman buys you a round.
It was interesting to hear his take on world events, especially the current issues with the Danish cartoon and Muslim protests.
It was if I was listening to the BBC or news reports from other sides of the world.
He said the Dutch were very much behind America and had been since World War II, but he said after the recent controversy, support was waning.
After other European countries stood behind the Dutch, America was slow to respond and many in the American media seemed to say, “Bad boys. You did wrong this time.”
He said he himself was a fan of America, but the slow response from America on the cartoons disturbed many.
He also was mad that the Muslim clerics (or priests as he called them) had stirred the controversy up.
As you may know, the cartoon depicting the prophet Muhammad as a terrorist originally appeared in Dutch newspapers back in Oct. 2005. They then circulated in other newspapers including some Egyptian papers in Nov. 2005.
But it wasn’t until an Islamic cleric put together the cartoon with cartoons from other papers and presented them before Islamic extremists, that the violence and protests began.
He also spoke about other traveling he had done and how many in Europe hoped to bring the continent under one rule and create a European Union, similar to the United States.
He was shocked to hear that people in America considered the European Union to be what many people considered signs of the end of the world.
”The anti-Christ will come from Europe?” he laughed. “That’s funny. That’s the first time I’ve ever heard that.”
We also discussed the conflict in Ireland between the Protestants and Catholics.
He said when he visited the country he asked a taxi driver of his opinion.
Best quote of the night:

“He (the taxi driver) said he didn’t know what the f*ck was going on,” the Dutchman said. “He lives 10 miles from where the bombings are taking place and he said he didn’t understand it. I said how the f*ck am I gonna understand it if he doesn’t?”

As the bartenders prepared to close for the night we parted ways.
Hopefully each of us were a little more understanding of one another and each other’s ways and culture.