arch/ive/ief (2000 - 2005)

Six weeks ago, he had a work accident, as a result of that he had to wear a cast on his left foot for four weeks. The fact he had the accident shouldn't come as a surprise when you know that in the last four months his two co-workers were fired and not replaced, with the workload staying the same.

In spite of the fact that he was unable to stand on his foot they refused to call an ambulance or take him to hospital, so he had to drive himself to the E.R., where it took forever and a lot of nagging before he was looked after properly. When the doctors and nurses finally managed to drag themselves away from their coffee and cake (after about an hour and a half) and examine his foot, they concluded he sprained two muscles in his foot, decided he was not just faking it after all and put his foot in a cast and gave him some painkillers.

A few days later, on a warm evening he went to sit outside on the bench in front of his house, to smoke a cigarette and enjoy a quiet moment by himself. A man and his two teenage children (a boy and a girl) walk into his street, suddenly they see him sitting on his bench, with his crutches and his cast. The man calls out " hey, you there, what if I made sure you had those crutches for life?" and came charging at him. My friend managed to avoid getting kicked in his bad foot but got out of balance and fell on his hip. The man fell to the ground because he lost his balance too and was helped to his feet by his kids.
About 15 minutes later, my friend managed to reach the door of his house, he was putting the key in the keyhole when they came back. This time they came deliberately with the intention to hurt him. Lucky for him, his dad arrived at exactly that moment, so the three cowards ran away.

Two weeks ago, he had to go to hospital for a check-up, he didn't have the cast anymore but he was still walking on crutches. A young man came walking into the waiting room, took a long good look at my friend and, with a big smile on his face, kicked him in his bad foot, saying "oups, sorry, I tripped" , he waked in and out of the waiting room three times in the next half hour, repeating the exact same scène each time he passes by.

You'd start wondering what my friends' problem is. Well, he's almost Average Jeff, 25 years old, classic dresser, he has a job a mortgage, a wife and an adorable little baby daughter.
This is just how you get treated in this country when you are an Arab and defenceless.

This happened right here in Belgium, over the past few weeks. Not in Nazi Germany in 1936.