Why do we knowingly destroy ourselves? The rain, which often brings such sad thoughts, has stopped in the evening. It stayed dry at night, and now there is frost on the roof of the shed. The grass is white from the night frost, and the sun rises dazzlingly – but the despondent thought remains. Even when I get on my bike.
I pedal towards the old IJssel power station, through Windesheim to Herxen, and further, via Heino towards Dalfsen and back along the Vecht. Above the ditches it steams, frozen land sparkles in the sun. Everything that stretches in front of me, and everything behind me, the entire landscape is my sporting ground. Countless square meters.
I’m so used to it that I rarely think about the space non-cyclists have to make do with it. Square meters are becoming fewer and fewer, according to research by this newspaper. In the big cities there is only ten square meters available per person for sports, an area the size of a storage room, for balls and other equipment.
When I turn the pedals, the thoughts in my head also move. I don’t understand. We are all becoming unhealthier, and more and more children are obese. They get bad eyesight from the screens, and they cycle to school less and less. They play outside less and become less active. We know it, and yet we do nothing. At least, nothing that really matters.
Why don’t we choose to exercise more, spend more time outdoors, fewer screens, more health?
I spoke to people in Apeldoorn who complained that sports facilities are not even taken into account when drawing new residential areas. Houses, shops, parking lots. And finally: oops, do people still have to exercise? Oh dear. Forget. I spoke to a councilor in The Hague who had to fight for sports fields. He did it with dedication. But what if, as an alderman, you are not much of a fighter.
I listened to Radio 1. Politics has increasingly become a competition, was the topic of conversation when Thom van Campen won the election for President of the House. We have indeed seen this very clearly in recent months. The people chosen to provide solutions spend most of their time bickering with each other. To defeat the opponent, to win with words, instead of building bridges, to a vision of the future for our children.
I read What we can knowIan McEwan’s latest novel, written from the year 2119. The look back at our time, and where things go from here, feels chillingly accurate. We are seeing blindly on the way to our demise, while all solutions to prevent it are available. We don’t choose it. We do not choose the future of our children, whether it concerns their health or the quality of life in the world.
Why do we knowingly destroy ourselves? I don’t understand. Everyone loves their children and wishes them the best for the future, right? Why don’t we make a radical choice to really give them the best? Why don’t we choose to exercise more, spend more time outdoors, fewer screens, more health, more independence and therefore more happiness? Perhaps indeed because politics has increasingly become a competition, a matter of scoring. And the cynical thing is: in politics you don’t score with sports.
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