11. ENVY
Envy is one of the worst
afflictions among us Dutch immigrants in Canada. Sometimes I think you should
count yourself lucky if you don’t yet own your own business or farm in Canada.
Because once someone achieves their ideals and finds particular success, they
become the centre of attention; their name is often on the lips of their fellow
immigrant brothers and sisters.
Take, for example, butcher De
Kort. It’s only been four years since he arrived in Halifax at Pier 29 as a penniless
immigrant, and now he owns a thriving butcher shop. How did that man get so
lucky?
People SAY he worked terribly
hard for it. Worked himself to the bone from early morning until late at night.
And frugal! It was supposedly so bad that his wife couldn’t buy a new dress for
the first three years, the children never even had a bottle of Coca-Cola, and
the family had so little to eat that his school-aged sons would steal
sandwiches from their classmates. They also say De Kort isn’t exactly honest in
his business. Someone reportedly saw him under cover of night leading three
tough, senile horses to his butcher shop—those old nags surely ended up in his
sausages.
If I were a dog or a cat, I’d
make sure never to go near De Kort. I’d value my canine or feline life too
much. Yes, that De Kort. . . .
But don’t forget baker Dalinga: Three years in Canada and already his own bakery. How is it possible?
THEY say Dalinga did quite a bit of black market trading during the war and sold many cream cakes to the Jerries, and that he somehow managed to smuggle his ill-gotten gains into Canada. Surely there’s no blessing on that; Dalinga will find out!
They also say he kneads the dough with his bare feet, and when he recently appeared in church limping, THEY claimed he had innjured his big toe on an overly dry raisen. That may be an exaggeration, but still. . . . Watch out for Dalinga!
And now take Klaas Rietma! He deals in brushes, doormats, and insurance—not exactly a goldmine. Yet his wife wears a heavy fur coat, and last year he bought a fancy luxury Ford. That can’t be on the level. PEOPLE claim he won five hundred dollars through that worldly game called bingo. That’s one way to live large. But who would have expected that from such a seemingly principled brother?
And look at Van Boeyen. Last year he bought a little farm near the city. As immigrants, we all laughed heartily about it at first, because the so-called experts among us said it was a dump and that Van Boeyen was heading straight for disaster. But that disaster still hasn’t shown up, and some spectators are starting to lose their patience. Every Sunday he appears in church looking like a gentleman, and it’s leaked out that he gave an extra hundred dollars to the church at Thanksgiving last year out of gratitude. But there must be something fishy about that money. . . .
Now take a man like Arie Dof! An immigrant among immigrants! A man who doesn’t stand out, who owns no business or farm, and whose wife lives life without a fur coat. Truly an immigrant who hasn’t outpaced his fellow travellers on the road to success.
He has a decent bank balance, but that belongs to the hidden things which do not overshadow his radiant simplicity. With passion and fire and Bible in hand, he warns against the grinning monster of materialism. No, Arie doesn’t suffer in the conversations of Dutch Canadians—he is no capitalist like De Kort, Dalinga, Rietma, or Van Boeyen. Arie is a proletariat, and thus his position is secure.
He is not a money magnate but a proletariat—but not a communist kind: he is merely a SIMPLE Christian. Let all behold his Simplicity!
Arie is a wicked and sinful man.
While he mused on envy, Satan had filled his immigrant heart.
Please, God, make this man a simple CHRISTIAN.
Dof, Arie. (1958). “11. Nijver.” (George van Popta, Trans., 2025). In Arie en Katrien in Canada (pp. 47-49). Hamilton, Ontario: Guardian. (Original work published in Calvinist Contact [Christian Courier]). Published with permission.