Overgevoelig is het woord dat me best omschrijft

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Daily writing prompt

What is one word that describes you?

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Men zou me best kunnen plaatsen onder de overgevoelige types. Al van kleins af was ik erg gevoelig en trok me veel te veel dingen aan.

Zelfs als ik een film bekijk kunnen tranen over mijn wangen rollen. Heel wat zaken waar ik geen vat kan op hebben, raken me toch zodanig, dat ik er soms gefrustreerd van wordt. Langs de andere kant, maakte mijn gevoeligheid het mogelijk om me gemakkelijk in een rol in te leven, zodat ik op de scene zowel als in de film een overtuigende rol kon vertolken.

Door alles zo aan te trekken wenste ik ook overal hulp te verlenen, wat echter onmogelijk is. Toch probeerde ik zoveel mogelijk te helpen daar waar ik kon. Nu ben ik al wat bewuster geworden van mijn vele beperkingen en tracht ik er mee te leven dat ik niet overal zo veel hulp kan bieden als ik wel zou willen. Vroeger kwamen bedelaars als vliegen op me af, maar daar wist mijn echtgenote vlug een einde aan te maken.

Door dat mijn gevoeligheid ook zichtbaar of gekend was door anderen, probeerden meerderen hier misbruik van te maken of trachten me hiermee te ondermijnen, waarin ze dan dikwijls slaagden, doordat ik totaal verlamde.

Bij het beheren van mijn balletgezelschap, tijdens mijn balletmeesterschap in het gezelschap van anderen, bij het lesgeven, wenste ik altijd het beste te doen voor “mijn dansers” en hun lichaam zoveel mogelijk te beschermen, zodat ze zo lang mogelijk zouden kunnen dansen en gezond blijven.
Hun werk voor het gezelschap was alles voor mij, en als een vader trachtte ik voor hen altijd klaar te staan, maar ook het beste te wensen als zij ons verlieten.

Komen en gaan maken deel uit van het leven. Zulke zaken roerden mij dan ook en treffen nog steeds mijn ziel.

Vandaag, ben ik wat rustiger geworden dan vroeger en besef ik ook meer mijn beperkingen in mijn mogelijkheden om anderen bij te staan of om hulp te bieden. Zotte kuren van zeer dure zendingen naar hulpbehoevende streken uit te voeren is er niet meer bij.

Mijn hart heeft me ook ernstige signalen gestuurd dat ik wat moet temperen. Ook al zal het niet altijd makkelijk zijn om rustiger aan te doen, maar de motor heeft laten aanvoelen dat deze wat overwerkt is geraakt.

Nu gaat mijn meeste aandacht naar de kerkgemeenschap die ik in België tracht op te bouwen. Ook daar wordt ik regelmatig geconfronteerd met mensen met moeilijkheden allerhande. Zoveel mogelijk tracht ik nu in die kleine gemeenschap en voor vluchtelingen hier mijn best te doen, terwijl ik toch ook nog verder algemeen het voor de zwakkere op neem, zowel voor mens als dier in de gehele wereld.

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Hypersensitive is the word that best describes me

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Daily writing prompt

What is one word that describes you?

View all responses

One could best place me among the hypersensitive types. Since childhood, I was very sensitive and attracted far too many things.

Even when I watch a film, tears can roll down my cheeks. A lot of things I can’t control nevertheless affect me to the extent that I sometimes get frustrated. On the other hand, my sensitivity made it easy to empathise with a role, so I could play a convincing role on the scene as well as in the film.

Putting everything on so much also made me wish to help everywhere, which is impossible, however. Still, I tried to help as much as I could wherever I could. Now I have already become a bit more aware of my many limitations and try to live with the fact that I cannot offer as much help everywhere as I would like. Beggars used to come at me like flies, but my wife soon managed to put a stop to that.

Because my sensitivity was also visible or known by others, several people tried to abuse it or undermine me with it, in which they often succeeded, because I became totally paralysed.

In managing my ballet company, during my ballet mastery in the company of others, in teaching, I always wished to do the best for “my dancers” and protect their bodies as much as possible, so that they could dance and stay healthy for as long as possible. Their work for the company was everything to me, and like a father, I always tried to be there for them, but also to wish them well when they left us.

Coming and going are part of life. Such things therefore stirred me and still affect my soul.

Today, I have become a bit calmer than before and I am also more aware of my limitations in my ability to assist or help others. Performing foolish cures of very expensive shipments to needy regions is no longer an option.

My heart has also sent me serious signals that I need to slow down a bit. Even though it will not always be easy to slow down, but the engine has made it feel that it has become a bit overworked.

Now most of my attention goes to the church community I am trying to build in Belgium. There, too, I am regularly confronted with people with difficulties of all kinds. As much as possible, I try to do my best in this small community and for refugees here, while still generally standing up for the weak, both human and animal, in the whole world.

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What can be registered the most important invention of the 20th century

The most important invention in your lifetime is…

In the second decade of the 21st century, everybody seems to find it normal to have the whole world at their fingertips by means of their smartphone, laptop or electronic notebook.

The computer has become the tool no man can seem to miss, and people are often not aware it is around them everywhere in house tools, machinery, etc.

The time that the first computers were used primarily for numerical calculations, might not have so long been in the past. Rather than grasping details overall at a glance, the electronic tool still has to process information sequentially. Rather quickly, the computer has overpowered the landscape with its speed and, in just a few decades, has made us rely entirely on its ability to serve us quickly. We have even completely resigned ourselves to it and can hardly do without its powerful power.

After World War II analogue computers used continuous physical magnitudes to represent quantitative information whilst voltages were used. By the 1960s, digital computers had largely replaced them. Nonetheless, analogue computers, and some hybrid digital-analogue systems, continued in use through the 1960s in tasks such as aircraft and spaceflight simulation.

Microprocessors came to the world to help, but like minicomputers, early microcomputers had relatively limited storage and data-handling capabilities. It is incredible how fast the world of microprocessors moved and got us in the ban of trying to do more with it. They grew as storage technology has improved alongside processing power.

I still have some towers tucked away, but have gone now to work daily on my laptop. Today, the distinction between workstation and PC has virtually vanished, with PCs having the power and display capability of workstations. CPU chips now also contain some high-speed cache memory where data and instructions are temporarily stored for fast access. Everything seems to work faster now, though we have become so used to it that sometimes we do consider our laptop still going too slow. I mostly forget it can well be I have too many windows in Firefox open, wanting to have everything at hand.

The emergence of the Internet in the 1990s as not only a communication medium, but also one of the principal focuses of computer use, may be the most significant development in computing in the past several decades.

I cannot deny, that I have become very dependent on the technological wonders. I am therefore very happy that I can use it every day, which means, that you have now also been able to read this blog, without you or I, having to leave the house or have had to wait days before reading what I ‘pinned’ down.

Is the situation within the United States really as bad as Donald Trump makes it seem?

A typical attitude we got accustomed to see when Donald Trump had to reply to certain questions

Donald Trump makes it seem as if the country has deteriorated terribly with the United States during Joe Biden‘s reign.

Depending on one’s perspective and political beliefs one could say the country has moved forwards, whilst others would be able to argue the country moved backwards.

Some may argue that there are significant issues and challenges facing the United States, such as political polarisation, economic inequality, and social unrest. Regarding the latter, many Trump supporters forget that it is precisely that man who is largely the cause of a lot of unrest in the States that he is actually incompatible with. For the past four years, Trump has never stopped taunting his opponents and sending out all kinds of lies spiced with hate language.
Trump likes to cite a witch hunt on him. At the same time, he proclaims that he could end the wars in Ukraine and Gaza in just a few days. Even though he has still not accepted Zelenski’s invitation, who asked him to do so.

Especially in agricultural areas and far from large city areas, Trump is taking the lead and making people believe that their country is in worse shape than when he was president.

In cities and by more educated people, others may believe that Trump exaggerates or distorts these issues for his own political gain.

The quality of life in the United States has generally been improving over the last eight years. Unemployment rates have continued to decline, average household income has been increasing, and the poverty rate has been decreasing. However, many Americans forget that it is because of their own selfishness and their unwillingness to have a state health system that many Americans encounter financial difficulties if they experience a serious medical problem.

But even though many improvements can be seen in the social field, Trump is very black in his reviews and many Americans seem to believe him rather than the figures.

As for inflation, it has been relatively low and stable over the past eight years. Compared to the Americans, we, on that level, have much more to complain about here in Europe and our shopping cart has become a lot more expensive and our purchasing power has diminished considerably.  For the North Americans, the Consumer Price Index (CPI), or the indicator that measures the changes in the price level of consumer goods and services within the United States of America, has shown a modest increase over the years, showing that the average change in prices paid by consumers for goods and services are staying below the Federal Reserve’s target rate of 2%.

The Consumer Price Index for Europe, used by policymakers, economists, and businesses to analyse economic trends and make informed decisions, is at a current level of 127.74, down from 127.95 last month and up from 123.90 one year ago. This is a change of -0.16% from last month and 3.10% from one year ago. The ECB’s Governing Council also considers that price stability is best maintained by aiming for 2% over the medium term, but we are far from it.

In 2022, the highest annual inflation rates among EU Member States were recorded in Estonia (19.4 %), Lithuania (18.9 %) and Latvia (17.2 %), and the highest annual price increases in the EU were recorded for housing, water, electricity, gas and other fuels (up 18.0 %) and transport (up 12.1 %).

Annual inflation in Europe accelerated from 2017 to 2019; decreased in 2020 under the impact of the COVID-19 measures and increased sharply in 2021 and more than tripled in 2022. Price changes in Japan were generally lower than in the EU, whereas they were generally higher in the United States and China, except in recent years. During the period 2013-2022, consumer prices rose by an annual average of 0.8 % in Japan, 2.3 % in the United States and 1.9 % in China.

In the US, inflation has peaked at 8.9% annually in June 2022 according to the CPI, whilst in the euro area, inflation peaked at 10.6% (measured by HICP) in October 2022, again 4 months later. Such levels of inflation had not been observed since the early 1980s in the US and in European countries.

US prices for used cars and trucks soared during the second quarter of 2021 for a number of reasons: new cars, a close substitute, were less available because of a slowdown in production stemming from semiconductor shortages, rental car companies reduced sales of their used cars amid stronger demand for car rentals as the economy re-opened, preferences shifted away from public to private transport, and household disposable income was boosted by fiscal stimuli – pushing up demand for used cars in the United States. The rise in prices for used cars and trucks alone represented, at 1.5 percentage points, around half the increase in US CPI inflation less food and energy from 1.4% in January 2021 to 4.3% in July 2021.
US prices for travel-related and transportation services rose strongly following the easing of containment measures, which has led to a substantial positive contribution to CPI inflation over the last few months.

Whilst food prices have gone up a lot in Europe, in the USA they vary depending on the region, the type of food, and whether it is purchased at a grocery store or a restaurant, but it can be said that generally, food prices in the USA are relatively affordable compared to other countries.
However, some items, such as fresh produce and speciality foods, may be more expensive. Additionally, prices can fluctuate due to factors such as seasonality, supply and demand, and the cost of transportation. Overall, the cost of food in the USA is considered to be reasonable for the quality and variety of options available.
It can be said that ‘eating junk’ or unhealthy foods in the States is a lot cheaper than here, but that people have to dig deeper into their pockets for organic goods and healthier nutrients. So those who are looking forward to eating healthier may be worse off than Europeans who are better off in terms of a health-controlled diet.

Overall, the state of quality of life and inflation in the United States over the last eight years has been positive, with improvements in several key economic indicators.

The concrete figures blame Trump for what he largely trumpets and wants his supporters to believe. Strangely enough, besides Nikki Haley, there are no republican candidates who want to expose that blowhard in their party.
The first woman to have ever won a race in a Republican primary, despite winning the District of Columbia Republican primary with 62% of the vote on March 3, 2024, and the Vermont Republican Party primary with 50% of the vote on March 5, Haley threw the towel in the ring and announced in a speech in Charleston, the suspension of her campaign on March 6, 2024, one day after Super Tuesday, signalling the end of her bid for the presidency.

A major problem in the United States of America is that everything revolves around money and some candidates can only come forward for the elections if they have many millions behind them. Those who do not have much money also have no chance of pushing through to obtain votes to ensure sufficient electoral votes.

Because a large bully can speak highly and no one in his own party dares to compete against him, a very dangerous candidate for the elections of that world superpower will be put forward again this year.

American citizens should know that it is important to critically evaluate information and consider multiple perspectives in order to form a well-informed opinion on the state of their country. They will also have to consider very seriously who they will want to give power to, and whether that person will be able to guarantee peace and tranquillity in their own country and abroad.

In any case, American citizens will have to make sure that if they want that ‘great speaker’ back to power, they will not bring danger to their own country and even to the world!

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Preceding

Expanding opportunities for more American families

The greatest Witch Hunt in U.S. history according to Donald Trump

Is he doing it again

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Find also to read:

1. Francis Fukuyama and ‘The End of History?’
2. Blinded crying blue murder having being made afraid by a bugaboo
3. The clean sweeper of the whole caboodle
4. Trump brand of migrant demonization #1
5. Jews the next scapegoat for Donald Trump
6. The American clouds of Anti-Semitism
7. Trump has been buffetted by accusations of misconduct
8. Fearmongering succeeded and got the bugaboo a victory
9. Voted against their system
10. Incidents of hate have become commonplace in the U.S.A. anno 2017
11. According to Pew Most White Evangelicals Don’t Think COVID-19 is a Medical Crisis
12. A new decade, To open the eyes to get a right view
13. Death to the GOP! Or not.
14. Trump going over the top bringing a blasphemous act
15. Thought by Presidents’ Day 2022
16. Jan 6th bombshell Trump’s at the wheel!
17. January 6: A Failed Apocalypse
18. Pence says ‘history will hold Donald Trump accountable’ for Jan. 6 in strong rebuke
19. As Expected
20. Balance of power in the first week of August 2022
21. Behaviour of American Christians
22. Culture War Christianity in American history
23. What causes the Rise of the Far-Right
24. What 2022 brought to us and looking forward to 2023
25. Stormy Daniels and Donald Trump’s fate
26. Things are getting Stormy for Trump
27. Need for the Republican Party to “cleanse itself” of Donald Trump
28. Saturday night rally biggest political showdown yet of the 2024 Republican primary contest
29. The New York Times looking at the 4th week of May 2023
30. If you thought the electoral appeal of populism was on the wane, think again.
31. Campaign trail in Iowa
32. Denier of any wrongdoing danger for democracy
33. The Telegraph’s Frontpage for Tuesday Novembre 07
34. Political theatrics of Mr Trump
35. The single greatest witch hunt of all time
36. The public figure I disagree with most
37. Meta: Stop the False Election Ads Now
38. Donald Trump far-outpaced his nearest competitors in Iowa
39. GOP candidates campaign on final day before frigid Iowa caucuses
40. Des Moines, Iowa January 2024

At the same age as me my parents where doing the same

What were your parents doing at your age?

My father when he had my age I have now, was like me retired, but also still active in religious and ethic matters. As a pharmacist, he was concerned with the treatment of sick people and how we could help those in need. He wrote articles and co-organised conferences about ethics in medical care.

For years, he also had given money as a foster parent and many aid-organisations. But the amount of money he spent to good causes, more than once, came under discussion at home. It seemed difficult for him to see that he could not help everybody. In his professional life, his door had stood open at all times for those in need. Sometimes also with us protesting, also wanting some more time with us.

I can imagine, that all the letters and articles he wrote at that time, no computers or internet, demanded a lot more time than today.

Many years later I also work for a church (be it a totally different denomination than his) and write also several articles per month. As such, perhaps I am aware that this must be some genes I got from my father.

Me too, I keep going on in my retirement, working for the Christadelphian community, for no pay, putting a lot of money in it. And when I look in the mirror I start to see more and more my father and my grandfather.

That what never would be done

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Something on your “to-do list” that never gets done.

I have a bucket list, with some wishes I know I never shall see to be fulfilled.

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In the 1990s I took care for an ecclesia in Gujarat, India. I arranged all matters from Belgium. Lots of times they asked me to come to visit the ecclesia in real life. But having some auto-immune diseases it was impossible for me to go there.

Already, when I booked an all-in trip to Turkey, I landed up in a hospital for one week, with the meals ransomed to little but rice water and drip.

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Warm countries, where there is not much of hygiene, are out of the question. Though I would love to visit India, Thailand, and Korea. But of those countries, I only shall be able to dream of visiting them. I even would love to go to do again a round trip throughout Turkey, when Erdogan is gone. But also that adventure through that beautiful country may stay by just a dream or wishful thinking.

For the rest, I must admit that I would still like to do a lot in my life, so I fear that it may be a bit too short to succeed in achieving everything I wish to do.

Complaining the most about the mentality of the present generation

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What do you complain about the most?

I am not somebody who complains much, though I do criticise the way most people live in our society and how they (mis)treat the environment.

Today, there does not seem to be much social contact any more. Lots of eyes are concentrated on that little screen, where they get lost in a fake world.

I do agree it can be a generation clash. Historically, we often see how the older generation complained about the newer generation (Nothing new under the sun.)

What annoys me most is how our world has put the focus on gaining money and material assets as much as possible. By the youth, we notice that a lot also turns around the ‘outlooks’. Their gadgets have to be up-to-date and as posh as possible. They are not really watching the news, to know what happens in the world. For them, it is much more fun to enjoy the many ‘funny’ YouTube videos and influencers’ blogs, where they are caught in advertising stories (often with not seeing or understanding how they are lured in buying things and being captured by the imperialist capitalist mentality.)

I also notice that there are so many people living next to each other instead of each other. I regret that. However, we do not get any further with complaints, so I insist with my various websites to let some lights burn here and there that can act positively and so people might talk to each other again and enjoy life.

 

Watching detectives for pleasure time

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What do you enjoy doing most in your leisure time?

When I am not writing an article for one of my many websites and not preparing a service for my church, in the day time I twice to three times take the time to have a walk and put my mind at rest.

From around 9 pm to midnight, it is “showtime”. Time to distract myself by watching television. After watching the news of the day, I let myself go by watching some nature documentaries and thriller series, having me wonder “who don it”.
Sometimes we also have a film on the menu.

In any case, the moving pictures, by binge watching a series or getting carried away by a film or documentary, lets me enjoy the night and bring me in other spheres and worlds of adventure.

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Is he doing it again

In 2016, Mr. Donald Trump’s win in New Hampshire put him on a path to the nomination and ultimately the presidency.
In those days, no one had taken it seriously when one would have said that this clown would win and become the 45th President of the United States.

After the storming of the Capitol, it would be thought that many more Americans would have opened their eyes and recognised the true facts of that gentleman.
Strangely enough, the Republican party appears unwilling to take a firm stand on what they expect from a democracy and a leader of the nation.

It is incomprehensible that in the Republican party there are no more people standing up against that bully who makes it a sport to mock others.

Eight years after he won in New Hampshire the state delivered again for him.

Ron DeSantis has already given up on this and asked its voters to vote for Trump, which many probably did. Taking this up will not make it easy for the other republican candidate.

The American politician who served as U.S. ambassador to the United Nations (2017–18) in the administration of U.S. Pres. Donald Trump, the first woman to serve as governor of South Carolina (2011–17) was not afraid to go against the bully after the many years she supported him.
Nikki Haley was critical of his response to the attack on the U.S. Capitol in January 2021. For her it became clear those two older men had had their time. It was

“time for a new generation.”

As the first Republican to challenge Trump, who had announced his candidacy in 2022, the race soon became crowded as others — including Mike Pence, Chris Christie, and Ron DeSantis — entered the contest. But they left soon, leaving a woman as the opponent of her old master.

At the Iowa caucuses despite the numerous criminal charges the 77-year-old faces, or his bizarre ramblings about sharks and electrocutions, trump did not turn supporters away. He won the Iowa caucuses with a record 30-percentage-point margin of victory over his nearest rivals, Ron DeSantis and Nikki Haley.

In Europe many of us might find Trump’s very presence on the world stage darkly comical, if not dangerous, a majority of Americans seem not to see the danger this man can be for worldpeace. There’s every chance he and his MAGA crew will have the last laugh again this time round.

On Saturday January the 20th, Nikki Haley questioned former President Donald Trump’s mental stability, after he confused her with former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi multiple times.

“Trump is at a rally and he’s going on and on, mentioning me several times as to why I didn’t take security during the Capitol riots. Why I didn’t handle Jan. 6 better,”

Haley said during a rally in New Hampshire.

“I wasn’t even in DC on Jan. 6.”

Haley added that when

“you’re dealing with the pressures of a presidency, we can’t have someone else that we question whether they’re mentally fit to do it.”

The two GOP candidates have been sparring ahead of the New Hampshire primary.

Yesterday January 23, the former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley was left in the dust and had to face what political analysts had considered her last and best chance to slow Trump his march to the Republican nomination. She finished 11 percentage points behind Trump. Despite the disappointing showing, she claimed that the race was

“far from over.”

Haley, who was popular with New Hampshire independents, argues she can beat President Joe Biden more easily and vowed to stay in the race. Biden, who lost last time in New Hampshire, wasn’t on the ballot due “to a primary-scheduling clash”, but he easily beat lesser-known Democrats after an organised write-in effort.

As of the latest vote tally on Wednesday afternoon, nearly 318,000 New Hampshire Republicans and independents cast votes in the first-in-the-nation primary. That exceeded the previous record set in the 2020 Democratic primary, when more than 298,000 Democrats and independents decided a contest between U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders of neighbouring Vermont, former South Bend, Indiana, Mayor Pete Buttigieg and a crowded field.

The AP estimates the total turnout in this year’s Republican primary will be approximately 330,000.

We can only hope that in a country where the money determines whether one can become president, Nikki Haley can get enough funds and people to continue the race.

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Find also to read

1. GOP candidates campaign on final day before frigid Iowa caucuses
2. To remember in the third week of January 2024
3. Death to the GOP! Or not.

Some people appear in life when most needed

More than once, I needed spiritual guidance. That guidance I could find in the Book of books, where I found out more about God and His sent one, Jesus Christ the son of God.

In addition to God, el Shaddai (the Strong One) and His son, we can also find people in our lives who can support us at very difficult moments in our lives. They are figures that may disappear in the crowd, but are important to us. They know how to lift us up in difficult moments and carry us further over deep abysses that we must cross.

Some people appear in your life when you need them most.

Learn more about who is the person who most influences me in my life:

The man who has positively impacted my life