{"id":6330,"date":"2025-03-20T12:38:00","date_gmt":"2025-03-20T11:38:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ver-ooginoog.nl\/bibliotheek\/proud-of-our-headstrong-son\/"},"modified":"2026-09-09T17:14:29","modified_gmt":"2026-09-09T15:14:29","slug":"proud-of-our-headstrong-son","status":"publish","type":"library_pt","link":"https:\/\/ver-ooginoog.nl\/en\/library\/kolommen\/proud-of-our-headstrong-son\/","title":{"rendered":"Proud of our headstrong son"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class=\"wp-block-post-date\"><time datetime=\"2025-03-20T12:38:00+01:00\">20 March 2025<\/time><\/div>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">I\u2019ve always seen his artificial eye as tangible proof of the suffering he\u2019s endured. A souvenir from hell. Of course, it\u2019s amazing what they can make these days, but no matter how beautiful it is, I always associate it immediately with that awful disease.    <\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Not Milan. He never has. He\u2019s always talking about his special eye. For Milan, his artificial eye is tangible proof of a battle he\u2019s won. And why wouldn\u2019t you show that off?      <\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">I asked him the other day if he\u2019d want to see with that eye if he could. He thought about it for a moment. \u201cMaybe for a little while, Dad,\u201d he said. \u201cBut not forever.\u201d \u201cWhy not, son?\u201d I asked. \u201cIsn\u2019t it nice to be able to see better?\u201d He looked at me intently. \u201cI\u2019d still want to,\u201d he said after a while. \u201cBut then I\u2019d want a gray eye.\u201d I looked at him in surprise. \u201cGray?\u201d         <\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cYes,\u201d he said confidently. \u201cBecause then I\u2019ll still be special.\u201d <\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">I\u2019ve been thinking a lot about what Milan actually said here. You could chalk it up to his age. When you\u2019re 9 years old, you often see yourself as the center of the universe. By definition, you think you\u2019re special. Yet it feels different. When he spoke those words, I didn\u2019t hear a 9-year-old boy. I was listening to someone who, in all his wisdom, was telling his father that he\u2019s proud of who he is\u2014not in spite of everything, but because of everything. Where Superman wears a cape, he has a prosthetic eye.        <\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">With these thoughts in mind, I reread the first part of my story.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Yes, it was a dark period. And yes, Milan has been through a lot.   <\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">But by viewing only the artificial eye as tangible evidence, I\u2019m doing the hero behind it a great disservice.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong><em>Jan Burger<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>I\u2019ve always seen his artificial eye as tangible proof of the suffering he\u2019s endured. A souvenir from hell. Of course, it\u2019s amazing what they can make these days, but no matter how beautiful it is, I always associate it immediately with that awful disease. Not Milan. He never has. He\u2019s always talking about his special [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"featured_media":6331,"template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_daextauttol_enable_tooltips":""},"library_cat":[112],"class_list":["post-6330","library_pt","type-library_pt","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","library_cat-kolommen"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ver-ooginoog.nl\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/library_pt\/6330","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ver-ooginoog.nl\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/library_pt"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ver-ooginoog.nl\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/library_pt"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ver-ooginoog.nl\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/6331"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ver-ooginoog.nl\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6330"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"library_cat","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ver-ooginoog.nl\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/library_cat?post=6330"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}