Pascal Bollon

Tagged: decisionshaveaprice

At the heart of it, the question I try to answer is that the price we pay, the cost we incur for choices and decisions, is but a mechanical consequence of the priorities, expectations and needs we set for ourselves. It should not therefore come to us as a bitter aftertaste, regret or guilt.

The Silence Between Pictures

Silent and noisy. We achieved that as a family every single day. We stacked bird cages in rickety towers in living rooms, until it looked, smelled and sounded like Madagascar – the movie that is. The screeches, hoots and whistles of dozens of species of exotic small birds would swell and...

I Am Irrelevant

What will the people think? What will they remember about me? A common worry, even when we don’t care. Maybe especially so. And if it is a worry, then we have to admit it has at least some importance in our life. I was recently discussing choice and end-of-life dignity....

political scandals

Who? Me?

This post took me a surprisingly long time to write. It was not the difficulty of the subject or the lack of inspiration. Not even existential boredom. On the contrary. The reason was that raw material never stopped flowing. A flood of information. Political scandals come slushing down the hill...

the world before AVV-VVK museum aan de ijzer

The World before The World Before

March 2020. A weather so balmy, yet most of us locked up. It did not take long before many came up with grand plans for the future. All would be well in the “world after”. Certainly, a sound intellectual exercise during an enforced pause in our life plans. At least,...

MakingNonSenseofIt, Pascal Bollon

The Theory behind “The Price We Pay”

The last time you read from me, it was in The Price We Pay. I was addressing numerous conversations I had, heard or read about alternative life choices, regrets and guilt. Whether moral, economic, emotional, sentimental, it seems sometimes a default conversation. As a way to map out our choices,...

regret

The Price We Pay

No regrets. No guilt. Another movie star pays for his life of parties. A football team loses the game in stoppage time because they stopped pushing after 90 minutes. Getting a sun tan gives skin cancer. Smoking kills. Any of these sentences shocked you? No, I did not think so....

ice skating child

Is This Child Labour?

Or, what price are we ready to accept for entertainment. Our societies, our self-styled spokespeople, ourselves claim to care more and more about individual mental welfare. We are ready to unfurl the flags and go up the trench against physical exploitation. And then every 2 years, we watch the global...