Resident: ‘Reselling a gift is not decent’
“I received this wine a few years ago from a good friend, who unfortunately passed away,” said a resident of Baarn at the beginning of this month, holding up a bottle in the council chamber. “He said: drink it at a good time, think of me and enjoy it. This bottle is worth a lot. I can give it away or sell it, but that’s not fair. Anyone would feel ashamed.”
The speaker, one of a long line of objectors that evening, compared his friend’s precious bottle and message to Miss Van IJsendijke’s gift. “The Maarschalksbos was given to Baarn with a very explicit intention. It is a walking forest. The hospital came under pressure from the municipality for the general interest of the citizens of Baarn. And now I read in the documents that we are going to renovate it. It will be gutted and most of the budget will go to senior housing.”
“Actually, a gift is repackaged and resold with a nice bow,” he concluded. “That is not right, that is not decent. It is also not what the donor intended. It must remain a hospital or it must go back to its original destination. Think carefully. Otherwise it will be an endless process with legal action and nobody wants that.”