My last stop for this Christmas 2023 holiday trip was this Dutch city called The Hague (Den Haag, if you may). There were no heavy reasons I came up with this stop aside from: (1) this was Royal Dutch Shell’s headquarters which I once dreamed of visiting when I was still a Shell employee, and (2) the ongoing ICC probe involving our former president along with his clown of a court, which I really hope would turn out in favor of truth.
I did not expect anything out of this travel because I was too tired to plan and think about anything anymore being on the last stretch so to say, leaving everything to chatgpt. Besides, all I wanted was to go home already. But tickets already booked and all, I just opted to go with the initial plan, for practical reasons. Admittedly, emotions were still a bit heightened after spending Christmas on the road and alone, missing the Christmas warmth back home. Add to that, I recently failed at something very important which dragged down a lot along with it (read: broken trust, faithless faith, shattered dreams) and a certain trigger in Maastricht causing this much anxiety (story saved for later). There comes a time in our lives when we fall short of our goals and face disappointments and it was even more unfortunate that such thing happened hours before this trip.
Anyhow, failures are not the end, but an opportunity for renewal, as optimistic people always say. Embracing failure is indeed bravery as confronting our shortcomings requires strength and the ability to glean lessons from them. So, in the name of the holiday spirit, I wish for justice in whatever sense it would make. Hence, I wish for that thing that went around to come around 👀. I think it's not too much to ask for jail time to those scumbags who committed crimes against humanity. ICC, pretty please.
