Happy 2008 everyone! Yes, it’s the new year and it in general fills people with hope and determination to make this year better than all the other years. All the New Year resolutions are a statement of that. Of course most new years resolutions die within 48 hours, but its the thought that counts.
If there is however one thing I hope for in 2008 is that it is going to be a year of tolerance and reason. The reason for this is the news reports on this new year’s eve. More than 200 arrests were made for destruction of private and public property, drunken disorderly conduct in public, starting fights and even attacking public service officials of the fire department and ambulance service.
Why people feel the need to attack emergency service personnel boggles the mind of most sane people. That it happens is a fact and although it does not happen a lot there seems to be a trend rising as the number of incidents are increasing. The reason behind these attacks are as alien to me as they are to the government who have now launched a campaign to name this issue and create public awareness that this is – simply put – wrong.
I believe people who attack emergency personnel should be punished much more severely than other cases. Simply put, they do not endanger only the well-being of these people but also of those people who are in need of immediate care. Throwing their ass in jail to become someone’s bitch for 6 to 12 months seems an adequate punishment for such irresponsible and utterly unacceptable behavior.
To summarize I would like to state for all who think that rioting is just another form of partying to reconsider the damage they wrought onto others. Would you like to have medical personnel attacked who is coming to aide you when you are in dire need of care? Would you like to watch your home burn down and see you assets go up in smoke as the firefighters are getting the crap beat out of them just for trying to do their job? I think not.
I also hope 2008 will be marked by a people that want to become more tolerant again. 2007 was in my opinion hijacked by certain people (not to mention one, who should really consider a new barber) who preach intolerance towards people of other religions and ethnicity.
Holland has always been a country where people came when they were not welcome elsewhere. Our role as a trading nation depends on our ability to reason and mediate with other cultures. Yet there are people afraid of that which they do not understand and for them it is reason to preach FUD (fear uncertainty doubt), especially when it comes down to the Islamic belief.
I hope that 2008 will be a year where Holland will remember its past and embrace people from other cultures and religions again. By alienating them we only achieve a self fulfilling prophecy of doom. Only by addressing issues and show tolerance for each other we will once again be one people.
On a final note, I hope 2008 will be marked as the year where the one-liner politician becomes extinct. I know that this is rather far-fetched but one can only hope.