Grumble

We all grumble a bit. And yes, I participate in it sometimes. Sometimes it is as if nothing is right in our country. And of course we don't agree with everything, but we really worry about everything and grumble about everything.
Just look at the corona rules of the last year. Even wearing a face mask appears to be a problem for some and people still find it necessary to provoke...
Do we realize how good we have it here and how well we are taken care of here in the Netherlands? We think all good things are normal.
And believe me, I travel abroad often enough to know how lucky we are to live in a country like the Netherlands.
For me, abroad does not mean lying on the beach in the sun with a cocktail or sitting on a terrace in a beautiful city.
I mean life in rural areas where there is often no good health care, where people are poorly informed and where hygiene leaves much to be desired.
Where women walk with bare legs in the winter because they cannot afford tights. When I push a few euros into her hands, she smiles kindly at me. I see her almost toothless mouth and inflamed gums. I also know that the few euros I give are like a 'drop in the ocean'
When I visit a flea market that borders a square full of crates containing discarded products, almost waste, I see with horror and pity, people taking opened food and household goods out of the bins. They push each other aside and stand with their feet in the bins to get something useful for a few cents. I don't know these scenes from the Netherlands.
I have been to neighborhoods where people hardly have a roof over their heads and that is really not that far from the Netherlands.
I know that there is poverty here too, but to a different extent.
And yet we are a dissatisfied people without much confidence.
When we sit on a terrace for the first time, I realize once again how good we have it here.
I'm glad I live in a country like the Netherlands, where almost everything is so neatly arranged.