What Is Still Possible

What Is Still Possible

15 August 2026

It is the last weekend of the summer holidays. You cannot really tell yet. One indication is the advertising for back-to-school supplies and the fact that people at the gym are already talking about the traffic jams that will start again on Thursday.

It is abnormally hot on the island, but also in the Netherlands and elsewhere in Europe.

Earthquakes are almost becoming something we are getting used to. Yesterday, there was a powerful 7.7-magnitude earthquake in Indonesia.

Meanwhile, on the island, awareness of the overdevelopment of tourism is beginning to sink in. People are calling for a protest tomorrow, Sunday, 16 August.

The lead article in the Antilliaans Dagblad reads: “Coastal waters full of chemicals; drug-related substances around Mambo Beach.” The study also explicitly includes Caracasbaai, my bay. None of this is new, but time and again these facts are whitewashed.

And yet, life goes on.

Without closing our eyes to this reality — insofar as that is even still possible — we enjoy what is still possible and contribute where we can.

Perhaps that is exactly what matters now: seeing what is happening, enjoying what is still possible, and contributing where we can.

Miguel Goede