Ode to Sonja BarendUp healthy again tomorrow

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Dear Sonja,
I miss you often, after dinner
Your warm and sharp questions, your classy voice. Your humor. Your conscience
Your freckles blown over your face
The twinkle in your eye, in the studio light
You were the Queen of the talk show, until 2006, forty years long
And above all, afraid of nothing and no one
Dressed in a timeless ensemble, all Bazaar
With words spoken from the heart, in the most beautiful Dutch
You always touched the sensitive chord
With the minorities, the people who do not feel seen and heard
Or for whom the majority did not know exactly what they meant
People who nowadays hardly ever sit at the talk show table
And have been replaced by celebrities who seem to shy away from depth
You dared, the conversations with the prostitutes,
multiple personalities, transvestites, refugees and political rebels
And were you prepared by good friends, director
Ellen Blazer and your editors.
These people at the table and in the audience received your full attention,
interest and sincerity
Many a journalistic animal wonders: where is that time?
Just when the world is so divided, and falling apart
Is this form of journalism our greatest loss
Of course in the present there are
Journalistic peers following in your footsteps
Mariëlle, Kefah, Eva, Janine, Matthijs and Coen
Humberto, Twan, Clary, Margriet and Jeroen
And in the years to come we will continue to honor talents like these
with a Sonja Barend Award
Still, if I could fantasize...
Would it not be possible for you, La Barend, just maybe...
yourself, in the highest persona, again in the Amsterdam Red Hat?
With supporters and opponents united in one room, resulting in noise
And a journalistic explosion waiting to happen
Such a sweltering evening with plenty of 'noise in the hut'
And even people daring to shout: 'I think it sucks!'
So connecting, from the conversation. Sincerely. Really
For the less celebrated and the man around the corner, you, me and us.
To avoid standing right in front of each other and talking in 'they'
We've almost forgotten how to do it: value each other
Digital animals transformed into who we are
Have we forgotten how to talk, listen, lean our bodies forward, look each other in the eye
Let's Sonja again,
and revel
To real stories, of flesh and blood. The world upside down
Then sleep well and up healthy again tomorrow
About
Ode by Miluska van 't Lam to Sonja Barend
An Amsterdam native who throughout her career put the minority in the public light of the majority. Adrem, with substance, style, respect and when possible with humor: I hope we can all be a little more Sonja Barend, to honor togetherness.

Sonja Barend
Sonja Barend (Amsterdam, February 19, 1940), also called “the queen of the talk show,” is a Dutch former television presenter.