Marvellous pictures of a very nice elderly couple and a smart “exotic” young lady, in the heart of Brussels (“de Marollen”, for you Belgian readers). You can spot immediately de strong connection between the two: the elderly couple, wise and quiet, a bit “petit-bourgeois”, is formed by the parents (i.e. both mother and father) of the young lady, who is much more forceful, hard-driving, dynamic (or is it hyper-active?) and “revolutionary”, so to speak. The old Freudian story of “killing the father”, I am afraid (hey, isn’t that also the deeper meaning of the “Bush” reference on the window? Let’s deconstruct this second picture – Umberto Eco, where are you when we need you…?!). Not to worry, though: we are still alive but not kicking – Sarah is kicking the world for us with a lot of gusto, so we can relax and fade away with the satisfying conviction that our two daughters are continuing trying to improve the world. Fortunately, they didn’t study economics as we both did, so at least Sarah and Maud did not start their full intellectual lives with that particular handicap, that “original sin” (“the dismal science” – sorry, Dr. Ingrid Robeyns, but you know the moral standing of our chosen field of knowledge and expertise). Anyway, both Anne-Marie and I had a great time with Sarah in Brussels – I know it sounds corny, but that was really “quality time”! And isn’t it the eternal duty of a parent to give “quality time (and attention)” to her(his) daughter?
Marvellous pictures of a very nice elderly couple and a smart “exotic” young lady, in the heart of Brussels (“de Marollen”, for you Belgian readers). You can spot immediately de strong connection between the two: the elderly couple, wise and quiet, a bit “petit-bourgeois”, is formed by the parents (i.e. both mother and father) of the young lady, who is much more forceful, hard-driving, dynamic (or is it hyper-active?) and “revolutionary”, so to speak. The old Freudian story of “killing the father”, I am afraid (hey, isn’t that also the deeper meaning of the “Bush” reference on the window? Let’s deconstruct this second picture – Umberto Eco, where are you when we need you…?!). Not to worry, though: we are still alive but not kicking – Sarah is kicking the world for us with a lot of gusto, so we can relax and fade away with the satisfying conviction that our two daughters are continuing trying to improve the world. Fortunately, they didn’t study economics as we both did, so at least Sarah and Maud did not start their full intellectual lives with that particular handicap, that “original sin” (“the dismal science” – sorry, Dr. Ingrid Robeyns, but you know the moral standing of our chosen field of knowledge and expertise). Anyway, both Anne-Marie and I had a great time with Sarah in Brussels – I know it sounds corny, but that was really “quality time”! And isn’t it the eternal duty of a parent to give “quality time (and attention)” to her(his) daughter?