Translation
Mr Mohammad Sarrafzadeh
40, Kooshiar st Apt
Vali Asr Avenue
Tehran Iran
Amsterdam, 17th March 1995
Dear Mohammad,
It's been a long time since you received my thoughts (a final product of
the thought process) on paper. According to the French philosopher Descartes you could only prove that you were in this world by the fact that you were think. He coined the expression: "I think, therefore I am." (I exist). To write means to think, therefore I am. I'm processing words. Writing with pens and pencils and what not has become old-fashioned. We live in the 20th
century, don't forget that. I just want you to know that it's me who did this
all these letters in an understandable order to form words and then it was me again who constructed readable sentences with these words.
When you're at the computer, it's like teaching an old dog new tricks.
Working at ING Bank was a culture shock for me. First of all, I'm not the
'boss' no more. Instead, I'm the errand boy in the department, fetching tea
and coffee for everyone, receiving yesterday's papers, after everyone
who had read, took notes during the meetings and did all kinds of things
strange chores. Moreover, I do not have an elevated status within
this organization to be entitled to a secretary.
Within the ING Bank organization, secretaries are a luxury item.
Once an English cardinal from the 18th century said the following about the Dutch: 'The problem with the Dutch is that they are giving so little and asking so much." Mind you, this is my first work experience at a Dutch
Mohammad, to reassure you that I don't like working at ING Bank, I have written this long introduction, because it is not rosy working at ING Bank.
Changing the subject: "How is the family? I take it that children are
doing fine, since they have the best mother in the world. Everything around
us is changing so fast, except for the traditional family values. These,
and of course good friends, provide stability in a continuously changing
environment. If I do think of the next generation, then I believe that our
children will have to cope with a much more complicated world than the one
we are nowadays living in. I am confident that they will manage.
Why not come and visit the Netherlands to digress a bit further on these philosophical topics?
Wish you and your family a happy New Year( Noroes) and good
health and lots of wisdom. Let me conclude this New Year letter with a
quotation from the great philosopher Winnie the Pooh, whose invaluable
contribution to the education of the English youth cannot be enough
praised: "AT TIMES OF SUDDEN IMMERSION,
IT IS IMPORTANT TO KEEP THE HEAD ABOVE WATER.”
As always: never budge, keep smiling and one
day we'll meet each other in Isphahan.
Adriaan
A.D.Dirkzwager
Adrtan D. Dirkzwager
en Closure:
