'Tell me who your friends are...'

[p. 94]

Jonathan Raymond

I met Jonathan Raymond (59) during an overnight ride with a Greyhound bus from New York to Denver, Colorado, where I had to deliver a lecture. He was nineteen. He strongly reminded me of Frits van Eeden. He was studying philosophy in Boulder. His father was a Dean at Yale University. He played the cello. We became friends till now. In the 70's he stayed with me in Amsterdam. We visited my mother in Bilthoven. He was wearing a leatherband around his had. My mother called him ‘the Indian’. We drove in my tr-6 to Switzerland, to stay with my brother Theo. He also met Peter, of course. He later married, and has a son, Adam, who serves in the us Army. He never took advantage of his education. He became a ‘hardhat’ construction worker in Chicago. For some years he is now retired and lives in Portland, Maine, where I recently visited him again. Jono is one of my dearest friends. He wrote this brief letter in July 2002.

Dear Willem,

Thank you for the request to include something of mine in your book of friends. I have known you for some 40 years, and have never ceased to be amazed at the breath and depth of your knowledge in world politics. You are a person who will say and write what you believe in, even if your views may be unpopular. It has often cost you favour in powerful places. You are tireless, both in your travels and your efforts to record the events, observations and personal reflections of each day in your life.

[p. 95]

Although you live on one side of the Atlantic Ocean, and I on the other, you have been a faithful friend always, communicating by letter and making sure the time was not too long between visits, and some times going far out of your way to meet me again.

It seems so long ago that we met on the bus trip from New York to Denver. I was those days beginning my college career, and you were on your way to a speaking engagement. For the next 24 hours or so, in this rather unique context, we got to know each other quite well. Speaking about all manner of subjects. I realized then, that you were an intense and exceptional person from whom much could be learned. Over the intervening years, this has certainly proved to be the case. I am grateful for that quirk of fate which first caused our paths to cross. Willem, you are a man of sensitivity and compassion, and I am the richer for having known you, and having you as a friend. I hope all is well with you, and you are busy and happy.

Salut, Jonathan.