Are you so smart or are they stupid?

Yesterday I wrote about my grandfather who made a distinction between siskins and drift siskins when it comes to birds.

I have to set something straight. That was not my grandfather's opinion. According to him, that is how Amsterdammers saw it.

He said this to show how stupid Amsterdammers are in his eyes: Amsterdammers can only see the difference between floating and flying birds – they don't think any further.

My grandfather came from Vlaardingen, near Rotterdam.

I can still remember one of his statements: When they start thinking about something in Amsterdam, they have already made it in Rotterdam. A metro, for example.

I am not going to get involved in a 010 or 020 discussion.

I myself grew up near Arnhem, where they think that people from Arnhem are smarter than people from Nijmegen.

When we moved to Limburg 20 years ago, I thought that only Limburgers lived there.

I know: stupid idea!

It soon became apparent that people from Maastricht and other people live in Limburg (if you ask a person from Maastricht).

When we opened a branch in Heerlen with Adrem, it was a bit of a thing: who would work there? People from Maastricht would rather not.

From our employees in Heerlen I learned that there are 3 types of Limburgers: normal people from Parkstad, slightly less normal other Limburgers and finally Maastrichtenaren. Nah.

I am also not going to get involved in a 043, 045 or 046 discussion.

We humans apparently find it very clear to divide humanity into smart people (which is us of course) and others (not nearly as smart as us).

That is why I have this reflection for you today.

When people have to move something, they often make things complicated. They borrow a trailer or try to get the stuff in their own car, and they fiddle with flags behind their car.

Those are the others – not you, of course.

You rent a van because you have things to transport that do not fit in your car.

Smart!

For all the idiots around you, here's this link.

Can you pass it on?