Geert JM Vanderkelen

For a long time, the Dragon of Kraków has been fiercely protecting its den under the Wavel Hill spewing flames. An attraction for lots, a legend for many: day in, day out it is admired.

From time to time however, flames are no match for water. When rain reigns the sky and falls down to grow the mighty rivers, the dragon stands powerless. People and cameras turn their backs on it to watch the Vistula raise and flow rapidly.

The Dragon of Kraków stands there, forgotten, ignored.. Probably wondering how flooded its cave is.

Imagine you are sitting at some high-tech computer and you are given the opportunity to send everyone on Earth 1 SMS. What would you say using only 140 characters?

It’s an unlikely event, but it’s technically not impossible. Not everyone will receive it at the exact same moment, but it will eventually reach almost everyone on this planet. SMS is probably the most direct way to contact people. Forget e-mail, forget Twitter or Facebook, gosh, forget Television! Most people on Earth have a some mobile communication device and they have it usually all the time with them.

It’s an exercise. It’s fun. It is also powerful, maybe scary. But if you could send 1 SMS to everyone on Earth, what would it say?

Sometimes I say things worth blogging:

If you know something is coming, don’t wait for it.

Day in, day out, I speak, read, write, love, in English. My mother tongue, however, is Dutch (not Flemish *spit*). Today, I was finalizing the handwritten letter to my grandmother and reading up a message from my sister, I came up with a new Dutch word. Oh, it might already exist, but Google doesn’t know about it yet (unless for the typos).

avonkuren: avonturen + kuren .. doing crazy stuff while going through life

Oh, and now back cooking.

Vacation, and the mind is free. Then I scribble something, unleash it upon Earth where only a handful might read it:

Stop for a moment
And watch around
Hush for a second
And hear the sound

Think of your past step
And watch the road ahead
Pick up a fight
And try to flight

Break your habits
Stop living by one’s wits
Take another curve
And make some surf

Sometimes something hits me, and I’m lucky to survive so I can write it down. The following was written on a tram in Kraków (Poland). It’s probably not beautiful, it’s just how I felt. We had a splendid night out however.

Very depressing! Careful!

A depressing chore.
Sometime the world did go insane,
Sometime someone pushed it down the drain,
Sometimes blood colors the rain,
and it never looked the same

Now breathing became a chore,
and the air is on sale in-store,
every done year feels like keeping a score
Sometime men got a brain,
Sometime someone outsmarted a flame,
Sometimes making it better is just in vain,
as long as we stay humane

Now that we walk no more,
and all life is getting sore,
there is no point keeping the score
anymore.

We’re all following our own paths while we are strolling Earth. Most are free to turn or go back whenever they want. Others are bound to tradition, habits or even forced to go down an unwanted, dark alley.
This is all going on pretty much at the same time, randomly in parallel. Lots of us cross at intersections, at turns or see each other from the opposite riverbank. We utter our helloes or just bypass. We meet friends, we bump into enemies. We write postcards or send emails to keep in touch with travelers going or staying.
At a certain point, however, we take a different pace, because suddenly we walk along side a special traveler. Someone going a similar route. You feel that whenever the other turns slightly away, you’ll meet again a moment later. You found yourself a companion going beside you. One falls, the other helps. You cry and you laugh; agree and disagree. Sometimes you’ll find a sea between the both of you, but your journey will always bring you back together.
I have found this companion.

19:44 and the days are getting noticeably shorter. I stopped reading five minutes ago and been looking outside the room of my girlfriend’s room. Kids are playing near a school, the streets are mildly busy with people rushing home. Looking at my phone I’m somehow getting worried. I know my girlfriend has to work late, but it’s already later than that. I want to call her and ask if she’s alright. Maybe she is already strolling along the river right now, I am reassuring myself, relaxing from a busy workday.
Should I really call her? Would it be silly to just check on her? Maybe I’ll sound to much like a control-freak? Only a workday between us, and I miss her!
Almost 20:00, I call her: she is OK and will be home in like half an hour. Life’s good!

This is my summary of what humanity is all about.

I am inhuman, I am a pacifist.

“I’m not looking for the meaning of life. I’m looking for an excuse to be offline.”

“Life ends when there are no more first times.”

“If life’s a bitch, then I wish I had one.”

“I’m a motorcade through empty streets.”

“Keep your expectations low to enjoy moments even more.”

“Better one woman in your heart than ten in your head.”

“I have a voice in my head, mine.. and it seems I forget, to listen from time to time.”