Wednesday, July 23, 2014

Today, We Are All Dutch

On some days, I am actually proud to be part of the human race.  Today was such a day!

During the course of my workday, I routinely channel-surf between CNBC, Bloomberg, FBN, and CNN.  Today, because the stock market was so placid, I became transfixed by CNN's coverage of the arrival of corpses from Malaysia flight #17 back to the Netherlands.  The first forty corpses were ferried along deserted roads by forty hearses to a suburban location for forensic processing.  This tiny nation of 17 million lost 200 citizens on that flight.  Hundreds of thousands of them stood in respect along the road or upon the bridges and overpasses -- mostly in prayerful silence.  Tomorrow, there will be another procession of forty hearses.  And, on the next day . . . and the next day . . .

After being left to rot in the field for days, nibbled by animals and insects, the corpses were finally given the respect and dignity they deserve.  The Dutch rose to the occasion and exhibited the very best of mankind.  I salute them!

The contrast between the nobility of the Dutch compared to the barbarism of the Russian separatists is simply over-whelming.  But, it is too easy to describe the Russian separatists as mere thugs.  Harsher language should be reserved for their commanders and, more specifically, their Commander-In-Chief.

But, what is the crime -- the accidental shooting down of a passenger plane or the criminal neglect of the wreckage and the corpses?

Regardless, the Dutch people showed the world what class really is!  I just hope Putin was watching too.