{"id":114469,"date":"2020-06-09T12:00:44","date_gmt":"2020-06-09T10:00:44","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.erasmusmagazine.nl\/en\/?p=114469"},"modified":"2025-12-19T11:24:58","modified_gmt":"2025-12-19T10:24:58","slug":"rather-be-lazy-than-tired","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.erasmusmagazine.nl\/en\/2020\/06\/09\/rather-be-lazy-than-tired\/","title":{"rendered":"\u2018Rather be lazy than tired’"},"content":{"rendered":"

My shifts at Erasmus MC are usually very enjoyable. The duties I have are not always very challenging, but my contact with the patients and nice colleagues always makes the work a lot more fun. Working as a Surinamese in a hospital with predominantly Dutch colleagues is in itself a unique experience. It provides a wealth of special moments, like when everyone tries their hardest to pronounce my name correctly. Our conversations can be about anything and everything and take place mainly while we’re eating, as does this conversation. The names used are fictitious.<\/p>\n

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It\u2019s half past six in the evening and we\u2019re having dinner. Suddenly our pager buzzes. Mr. Lopez is calling. \u201cOh, he must have finished atomising,\u201d says one of the nurses. \u201cHe was being quite difficult about that today,\u201d she goes on to say. \u201cWhy?\u201d asks a colleague. \u201cYeah, he insisted on having a nebuliser mask like the one he used yesterday, but we were actually planning to stop using those now.\u201d I only half follow the conversation, as I\u2019m busy with my satay and fries and simultaneously trying to work out on a sheet of paper how on earth I\u2019m going to successfully manage to pass eight exams in the next three months.<\/p>\n\n\t

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\n\t\t\u2018He\u2019s from Cura\u00e7ao, eh, rather be lazy than tired\u2019\n\t<\/blockquote>\n\n\t<\/figure>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t<\/div>\n

\u201cOh, what did you do next then?\u201d asks another nurse sitting across from me. \u201cWell, I just said that we weren\u2019t going to do that anymore and that he could hold the nebuliser in his hands perfectly well himself,\u201d she replies. \u201cYes, exactly, well done you. He\u2019s from Cura\u00e7ao, eh. Liever lui dan moe.<\/em> Rather be lazy than tired.\u201d<\/p>\n

And then I stop. I put down my piece of paper and look at everyone else sitting around the table.<\/p>\n

For a moment, I think a Chinese colleague sitting next to me also looks a bit put off, but I can\u2019t be sure. Should I say something about this or just ask?\u00a0 Do I really have to be the one who ruins the atmosphere for the rest of the evening? I can already see myself saying: \u201cOh, what do you mean by that?\u201d in the most gentle and friendly way I can imagine. But I can\u2019t get myself to do it and the others at the table don\u2019t seem to have been affected at all by what has just been said. The conversation has already turned to something else.<\/p>\n\n\t

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\n\t\tIn general, the Dutch enjoy a kind of collective and selective amnesia about their role in world history and its consequences.\n\t<\/blockquote>\n\n\t<\/figure>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t<\/div>\n

I\u2019ve basically enjoyed working with everyone, just like every other shift. Yet that particular sentence sticks in my head throughout the rest of the shift. I\u2019m constantly thinking I really should say something about it. It\u2019s not even really about racism. Or maybe it is. From time to time I\u2019ve heard fellow students of colour comment on all kinds of patients and their families, but how can anyone make such a derogatory remark so offhandedly? Rather be lazy than tired.<\/em><\/p>\n

A more honest comparison in my view would be: rather no slavery than actual slavery. Rather no post-colonial depression than any at all. Rather one\u2019s own country than someone else\u2019s holiday resort. Rather a government of your own instead of some strange white king on the other side of the world.<\/p>\n

I grew up in a country that is still struggling with the consequences of hundreds of years of oppression, extortion, slavery, colonialism, ethnic divisions and so on that are a direct result of the actions of the country where I have been living for several years now. One thing has become clear to me from all this: In general, the Dutch (though fortunately there are some exceptions, too) enjoy a kind of collective and selective amnesia about their role in world history and the ensuing consequences. Not apartheid in South Africa, not the looting of West Africa, not slavery in America, not the opium epidemic or genocide in Indonesia, not the displacement of Moluccans, not the post-colonial demise of Surinam and certainly not the incomprehensible poverty in the Antilles is in any way the fault of, or at the very least, the upshot of any Dutch deeds.<\/p>\n

No, the wealth in the Netherlands was obtained by an orange royal house that enriched its people with heroic deeds and merchant ships that were able to provide the world with products in a fair and honest manner. The Netherlands\u2019 innovative and progressive attitude towards gay marriage, for example, is a shining example of how little something like discrimination, let alone racism, could ever apply to it!<\/p>\n

Luckily, I have also met some Dutch people, especially younger ones, who are very aware of the past and the impact that it has had and continues to have on various groups of people in the world.\u00a0 This offers me hope that more and more people will come to understand that although the present generation of Dutch people are not themselves guilty of the atrocities of the past, they do nevertheless retain the privilege of unconsciously and guilelessly profiting from them.<\/p>\n

In turn, the descendants of those oppressed are left with the all-too-often unseen consequences of hundreds of years of imperialism. Even among Surinamese and Antilleans and all other (former) subjects of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, the majority of people are frequently unaware of the lingering consequences that this painful past has on the economy, public life and even the emotional experiences of us, their descendants.<\/p>\n

By around ten o\u2019clock in the evening I\u2019ve finished all my duties and sit down behind a computer for a while to try to do some homework. But in reality, I keep on going back and forth in my head, thinking about what I should say, what I should ask. The only thing in the Netherlands that\u2019s worse than the non-existence of racism is accusing someone of racism. The mere idea that you think someone else is being racist or is even discriminating against someone on ethnic grounds seems to be such a huge taboo that most of the students of colour who I know don\u2019t dare address it.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s time for me to go home. \u201cHave a nice evening everyone!\u201d I can\u2019t bring myself to mention the incident from earlier on. As I walk down the hallway of the nursing wards, I realise that I\u2019ll be awake all night. I\u2019m going to feel so stupid if I don\u2019t at least ask what my colleague meant. I walk back, with a bit more resolve now.<\/p>\n

The nurse I need to talk to has just finished her paperwork and is chatting with a colleague. \u201cHey, can I speak to you for a sec?\u201d I ask.\u00a0 Sure, go ahead. \u201cWhen we were having dinner together a few hours ago, you said something that caught my attention.\u201d\u00a0 She looks at me and it feels as if she already knows what I want to talk about. \u201cYou said that patient was from Cura\u00e7ao, so he\u2019d rather be lazy than tired. That sounded a bit weird to me. Why would you say something like that?\u201d She kind of smiles, hesitates slightly and then says: \u201cHe really does come from Cura\u00e7ao and he really is that type, you know what I mean.\u201d I gave her a quizzical look. \u201cWhat do you mean?\u201d \u201cWell \u2026 Someone who likes to stare at your butt or make inappropriate remarks,\u201d she says with the same smile on her face. \u201cOh, that is pretty bad.\u201d<\/p>\n

I pause for a moment. \u201cStill, I don\u2019t understand that kind of generalisation. Are you saying he\u2019s like that because he\u2019s from Cura\u00e7ao? Surely just because someone doesn\u2019t know how to behave doesn\u2019t mean you can jump to conclusions like that?\u201d \u201cWell, it\u2019s kind of their culture, isn\u2019t it?\u201d It\u2019s not even really about racism. Or maybe it is.<\/p>\n\n\t

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\n\t\t\u2018Well, it\u2019s kind of their culture, isn\u2019t it?\u2019\n\t<\/blockquote>\n\n\t<\/figure>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t<\/div>\n

It is their culture.<\/em> What on earth is she talking about now? Right at that moment, I don\u2019t know whether to get angry or to try and explain that she\u2019s got it wrong. Or if I should even take pity on her for her narrow-mindedness. Seen the other way around, does it mean that all Dutch people swear at black people because a bunch of hooligans have made that kind of behaviour their lifestyle? Or are all of those older Dutch men who go on holidays to developing countries paedophiles as well?<\/p>\n

\u201cWell, I don\u2019t know if that\u2019s true, but in any case, I didn\u2019t think that comment was really appropriate,\u201d I say.
\n\u201cYeah, well, maybe that probably had something to do with my frustration with the patient. I guess that\u2019s where it came from.\u201d
\n\u201cOK, I can maybe understand that. But I still think it\u2019s really wrong. \u2018Rather be lazy than tired\u2019 \u2013 that sounds so offensive.\u201d
\n\u201cOkay, I get that.\u201d
\n\u201cGood, I\u2019m glad we at least talked about this. I think we understand each other a bit.\u201d
\n\u201cYeah, I think so, too.\u201d<\/p>\n

I would have liked her to go so far as to apologise or say she wouldn\u2019t do it again, but we didn\u2019t get that far, and I had neither the time nor the inclination to do that. I don\u2019t know that man, I\u2019m not from Cura\u00e7ao and she didn\u2019t insult me, but she reduced an entire population to a single sentence and her colleagues didn\u2019t seem to take any notice. What would she or our other colleagues say about Surinamese people when I\u2019m not there?\u00a0 \u201cBecause they certainly should not make the mistake of saying something offensive about Surinamese when I\u2019m around!\u201d I acknowledged to myself later on. We\u2019d be sure to get into an argument then; I\u2019d report them for racism and then they\u2019d have to make an effort to resolve things or try and explain to me how racism doesn\u2019t exist at our workplace.<\/p>\n

Ah\u2026these are angry thoughts. The truth is, I don\u2019t want to report any incidents of racism at all. Just as I didn\u2019t want to have a difficult conversation with my colleague about such an awful remark. I simply don\u2019t want anyone to say or think these kinds of things. And even if someone does have such loathsome thoughts or genuinely believes that they are right, that doesn\u2019t mean that anyone at work has to be a party to that. A modicum of mutual respect would go a long way.<\/p>\n

My shifts at Erasmus MC are usually very enjoyable. Tonight, it was just a bit different than what I would have liked, but I\u2019ll be here tomorrow morning and then we\u2019ll just start all over again.<\/p>\n

Ferayed Hok is a medical student at Erasmus MC and a freelancer at Erasmus Magazine.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\t

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De redactie<\/h2>\n\t\t\n\t\t
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