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Art by Ingrid de Jong

Anders

Acryl op doek, 50x50 cm

Hi, I'm an outsider because I'm different. Of course I would have loved to be a red tulip or a yellow one, but I am just the way I am. You don't see that after flowering, because inside we are all the same. Then, like all my friends, I am in a kind of hibernation in my warm bun. No one who disturbs me with silly jokes and asks me if I've run a blue. Last year there was another joker who asked me when I was going to breathe again because I started to turn very blue / purple. Sometimes that makes me so simple. Doesn't anyone ever look further than their stalk is long? As if it wasn't hard enough already. Yes, you have those lucky ones who go on holiday every year and can dry together nice and cozy, but I'm always alone here in the dark. That sounds very pathetic, but I'm not. I can handle that very well and I actually really like that solid ground. It makes me feel firmly rooted and it gives me extra support. That not only feels safe, but also familiar. Still, I do miss that fun sometimes. I always look forward to spring every time. As soon as I feel that the frost is a bit out of the ground, I already crawl out of my ball. No matter how deep I am, I always see only 1 way: up! No one sees how hard that is, but I always succeed. Nothing as wonderful as feeling the ground breaking, the first light that becomes visible or feeling those warm sunbeams again. I try even harder for joy. I want out, up! I want to see if I'm the first and if my friends are all back. Tomorrow I will know. There was some rain last night and I'm sure I'll be able to see tomorrow if many new neighbors have come in again this year. Will they be nice to me? Or maybe there are those annoying ones again. Of those colorless types, who feel strengthened by the masses because they happen to belong somewhere. Well, they can't get me crazy. I enjoy every day and fully focus on the sun. If there's one thing I'm good at, it's turning my k(n)op to the light. No one to dissuade me from that. Let them say what they want about me. I wouldn't even want to disappear into that homogeneous group. I am who I am and as long as I don't get picked, I'll seize the day.

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