Dutch Tolerance

The Dutch are located in the Low Countries. Today we know these countries as The Netherlands, Belgium, and Luxemburg. The Geography of these Low Countries developed resourcefulness in these people who were constantly fighting to hold back the sea. Please do not take this wrong if you are from New Orleans but, if we passed a law allowing only Dutch people to immigrate into that area then, I think we might avert another future disaster. They have had a lot of practice at it. The Dutch share some of the characteristics of the Sumerians in this way. They did not have many resources so they specialized in trade. Like the civilization of Carthage and The Phoenicians before them the Dutch welcomed outsiders and became a conduit by which they sold other people’s goods. As the country became profitable banking developed. The Dutch became rich and their tolerance toward outsiders grew as their wealth did. The other low countries of Belgium and Luxemburg may speak French but they act Dutch. Today Belgium hosts Brussels, the capitol of the European Union. This is the ultimate trading city of the world.

In 2003 my wife and I traveled to Paris on our 25th wedding anniversary. Yes the Parrises went to Paris. I am constructing this post on the eve of our 28th anniversary. When we arrived we got off the train and used our ATM to convert our currency into EUROS. The EURO and the dollar were fairly equal then. Now the EURO has appreciated in value to the point where you must pay 1.26 in exchange for one Euro. At one time it was great to shop in Europe but not anymore. We traveled to Germany to see friends. On our way back to Paris our train went through Luxemburg and Brussels and on our way to France we flew to and laid over in Amsterdam. It seems like anytime you go to Europe you are always traveling through these countries. Can you see how tolerance can add to a nation’s wealth?

Unfortunately with wealth comes jealously and the Spanish in particular dominated and mistreated the Dutch people in the 18th century. Remember that Philip, the ruler of Spain at the time, was a Hapsburg and he felt that he had a right to anything in the neighborhood of Austria. Of course it did not hurt that Philip needed the money in those Dutch banks. In the end the other counties jealously of Netherlands helped America by giving the Dutch ample motivation to make loans to a fledging republic that we call the United States of America. David McCullough makes the case that if it were not for the negotiations of John Adams with the Dutch there would not be a USA. I am sure Adams was aided by the motivation of the Dutch finally getting back at the domineering empires of Spain, Britain and France with their ultimate weapon. “Money!”. Money is a great equalizer in issues of race and religion so that the Low Countries became a haven for people fleeing this kind of persecution. Trading for outsider’s money and tolerance are joined at the hip and American capitalist system has also aided the break down of race and religious prejudice in America.

Tolerance is a noun and a verb in the language of virtue. The Dutch have tolerated foreign ideas and goods in exchange for monetary rewards. However, the enrichment of their society with the shared virtues from other traders creates a legacy of broad tolerance and a rich culture.

Taken from …

Hans Brinker

Or: what does this legend have to do with Dutch folk narrative?
The oldest version of the supposedly Dutch story, known as the legend of Hans Brinker, is in English and goes like this:
The Hero of Haarlem Many years ago, there lived in Haarlem, one of the principal cities of Holland, a sunny-haired boy of gentle disposition. His father was a sluicer, that is, a man whose business it was to open and close the sluices, or large oaken gates, that are placed at regular distances across the entrances of the canals, to regulate the amount of water that shall flow into them.
[...]
The sluicer raises the gates more or less according to the quantity of water required, and closes them carefully at night, in order to avoid all possible danger of an oversupply running into the canal, or the water would soon overflow it and inundate the surrounding country. As a great portion of Holland is lower than the level of the sea, the waters are kept from flooding the land only by means of strong dikes, or barriers, and by means of these sluices, which are often strained to the utmost by the pressure of the rising tides. Even the little children in Holland know that constant watchfulness is required to keep the rivers and ocean from flooding the country, and that a moment's neglect of the sluicer's duty may bring ruin and death to all.
[...]
One lovely autumn afternoon, when the boy was about eight years old, he obtained his parents' consent to carry some cakes to a blind man who lived out in the country, on the other side of the dike. The little fellow started on his errand with a light heart, and having spent an hour with his grateful old friend, he bade him farewell and started on his homeward walk. Trudging stoutly along the canal, he noticed how the autumn rains had swollen the waters. Even while humming his careless, childish song, he thought of his father's brave old gates and felt glad of their strength, for, thought he, 'If they gave way, where would Father and Mother be? These pretty fields would all be covered with the angry waters - Father always calls them the angry waters. I suppose he thinks they are mad at him for keeping them out so long.' And with these thoughts just flitting across his brain, the little fellow stooped to pick the pretty flowers that grew along his way. Sometimes he stopped to throw some feathery seed ball in the air and watch it as it floated away; sometimes he listened to the stealthy rustling of a rabbit, speeding through the grass, but oftener he smiled as he recalled the happy light he had seen arise on the weary, listening face of his blind old friend.
[...]
Suddenly the boy looked around him in dismay. He had not noticed that the sun was setting. Now he saw that his long shadow on the grass had vanished. It was growing dark, he was still some distance from home, and in a lonely ravine, where even the blue flowers had turned to gray. He quickened his footsteps and, with a beating heart recalled many a nursery tale of children belated in dreary forests. Just as he was bracing himself for a run, he was startled by the sound of trickling water. Whence did it come? He looked up and saw a small hole in the dike through which a tiny stream was flowing. Any child in Holland will shudder at the thought of a leak in the dike! The boy understood the danger at a glance. That little hole, if the water were allowed to trickle through, would soon be a large one, and a terrible inundation would be the result. Quick as a flash, he saw his duty. Throwing away his flowers, the boy clambered up the heights until he reached the hole. His chubby little finger was thrust in, almost before he knew it. The flowing was stopped! Ah! he thought, with a chuckle of boyish delight, the angry waters must stay back now! Haarlem shall not be drowned while I am here! This was all very well at first, but the night was falling rapidly. Chill vapors filled the air. Our little hero began to tremble with cold and dread. He shouted loudly; he screamed, 'Come here! come here!' but no one came. The cold grew more intense, a numbness, commencing in the tired little finger, crept over his hand and arm, and soon his whole body was filled with pain. He shouted again, 'Will no one come? Mother! Mother!' Alas, his mother, good, practical soul, had already locked the doors and had fully resolved to scold him on the morrow for spending the night with blind Jansen without her permission. He tried to whistle. Perhaps some straggling boy might heed the signal, but his teeth chattered so, it was impossible. Then he called on God for help. And the answer came, through a holy resolution: 'I will stay here till morning.'
[...]
The midnight moon looked down upon that small, solitary form, sitting upon a stone, halfway up the dike. His head was bent but he was not asleep, for every now and then one restless hand rubbed feebly the outstretched arm that seemed fastened to the dike - and often the pale, tearful face turned quickly at some real or fancied sounds. How can we know the sufferings of that long and fearful watch - what falterings of purpose, what childish terrors came over the boy as he thought of the warm little bed at home, of his parents, his brothers and sisters, then looked into the cold, dreary night! If he drew away that tiny finger, the angry waters, grown angrier still, would rush forth, and never stop until they had swept over the town. No, he would hold it there till daylight - if he lived! He was not very sure of living. What did this strange buzzing mean? And then the knives that seemed pricking and piercing him from head to foot? He was not certain now that he could draw his finger away, even if he wished to. At daybreak a clergyman, returning from the bedside of a sick parishioner, thought he heard groans as he walked along on the top of the dike. Bending, he saw, far down on the side, a child apparently writhing with pain.'In the name of wonder, boy,' he exclaimed, 'what are you doing there?''I am keeping the water from running out,' was the simple answer of the little hero. 'Tell them to come quick.'It is needless to add that they did come quickly.

The legend of the brave Dutch boy - by others thought to be named Hans Brinker - who supposedly put his finger in the dyke to prevent a flood, was actually a literary invention by the American writer

Mary Elizabeth Mapes Dodge (1831-1905), who was born in New York.