"I struggle and emerge" ( Luctor and Emergo in Latin) is the motto for the dutch province of Zeeland, where we are now spending time to relive a crucial part of our life. More particularly that part of Zeeland that is situated south of the river Scheldt and borders the neighbor country of Belgium appropriately named 'Zeeuws Vlaanderen'.
The motto is a reference to the constant struggle with the sea that is part of life in Holland, but nowhere more so than in this far southwest corner of the country. Zeeland is the territory of the delta for the great European rivers Rhine, Meuse and Scheldt.
It is here that I found my first job after completing my military service with the Royal Dutch Airforce. In many ways was it was here that our adult lives began as well. Adult life starts in earnest when the time has come to make a living. Nowhere in the world were we, as newcomers, embraced and welcomed as warmly as here in Zeeuws Vlaanderen. We lived here only for three years but made a lifetime of friends and dove in 1970 head over heels into the social scene of the region.
The Round Table #32 invited me to join and and its senior section invited me this week to make a presentation of my book 'NEITHER HERE NOR THERE, A First Generation Immigrant in Search of American Exceptionalism'. The book review triggered a lively and informed discussion about the fundamental differences between life in America and life in Western Europe, specifically the Netherlands and, more specifically, Zeeuws Vlaanderen. Of course, such discussion is inconclusive. It depends so much on what you expect from life and it varies with your personal and financial circumstances. The people we know here are all well to do and have lived productive and engaged lives. I doubt that they could have done better in the USA. If any conclusion emerged from the discussion, it is that many Europeans feel that the overburden of the EU, much like the Federal government in the USA, places an unnecessary, expensive and stifling layer of bureaucracy on life and economy. The Greek crisis has placed this problem in full view and everyone's awareness. It has made it painfully obvious that the 'one size fits all' approach by Brussels is not flexible and agile enough to keep up with ever changing economic and social conditions. The bottom line is that America is not unique in having its intractable social and political problems. If the USA thinks it has an immigrant problem, come look in the EU which is forced to absorb a never ending stream of refugees and desperates from across the Mediterranean.
Two aspects keep attracting me to Zeeuws Vlaanderen: the incredibly beautiful landscape, marked by long rows of high poplars, church steeples and windmills and the unfailingly welcoming attitude of the people we know there. While in the area, we were offered the home of good friends who had moved - as many people here do - to the Belgian coast for the month of July. Could not have asked for nicer accommodations. How trusting is it to leave your home, with all of its personal content, in the hands of distant friends? We slept like babies in their conjugal bed.
Time was spent roaming the wide beaches that stretch from Breskens on the river Scheldt to the Belgian town of Knokke, with the natural reserve 'de Zwin' separating Zeeland from Belgium. This is the kind of place I keep looking for on all my travels. Where natural beauty prevails and out of the way of the tourist masses. Places like this are hard to find anymore in an overcrowded country like the Netherlands, but a few of them are in Zeeuws Vlaanderen. We will be looking for more as we travel along. July is peak vacation time in Western Europe and on the sunny Thursday we visited the beach, it was busy with mostly Belgian and German tourists. But here the beach is so long and wide that it never felt crowded.
Not much has changed in Zeeuws Vlaanderen. Probably less than anywhere else in the country of the Netherlands. The essentials all have stayed the same: the landscape is still wide open en largely unspoiled. Other than a few thoroughfares, the roads are winding and narrow. A major difference with the time we lived here is that now virtually every rural intersection has turned into a roundabout (there were none in the seventies) and a few tunnels have been dug to facilitate the commercial traffic. The car ferries across the Westerschelde (Scheldt) are a thing of the past. Nothing has changed in the attitude and the hospitality of the people of Zeeuws Vlaanderen. We were magnificently entertained in several homes and had countless encounters with the friends we had made so long ago. The country looks prosperous, clean and well organized. Its natural beauty has carefully been maintained. Poverty like you will see traveling the rural roads in the USA is seemingly non-existent here.
Zeeland remains loyal to its motto 'Luctor et Emergo' and is constantly upgrading its defense against the rising tide. We had a spectacular dinner at Kruispolderhaven (haven is Dutch for harbor) which no longer has a harbor because the dike along the river Scheldt has been straightened out and elevated to 'delta' height, the new standard for protection against rising sea water. The Netherlands is proactively building its defenses against the effects of climate change. It learned its lesson in 1953 when a large part of Zeeland inundated and thousands of people drowned.
Having revisited Zeeuws Vlaanderen for a short week now, it is hard to bid farewell. We realize that by immigrating to the USA we forfeited a rich social life that is par for the course here. But there is no sense in looking back. America has been good to us and it is where the Jager family is firmly implanted with several roots. Memories linger and they are all good.
Rediscovering Zeeuws Vlaanderen
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