Five Brothers and a War

Postscript: Gijsbertus “Bertus” van Pelt

In the end of his professional life, Bertus had succeeded where few would have predicted. He was the General Manager of a $10,000,000 per year operation, and had oversight of 150 employees. He had so disappointed his father in his youth—a father who died far too young, and when Bertus was only 19 years old. He disappointed his teachers, who wrote him off as a total lost cause, and exacerbated the problem through outright mockery. They told him to his face that he would never amount to anything. And yet, he did succeed in areas where he did have aptitude. While he had little ability in certain academic subjects, he had a profound ability to market and to sell. His personality was such that he could build relationships and sell goods and services, and he was proud of it. Upon his retirement, he was given an exit evaluation from the company, which amounted to what looked like, and in fact was, a report card. While there was a certain similarity with the report cards of his youth in terms of the appearance of the form, there was no similarity with what was written on the form. Despite the wholesale failure of his formal education, which represented the greatest regret of his life, the final document of his professional life represented his greatest validation. If report cards are intended to show progress in aspects of life, the reversal in paths outlined by the cards of his youth and the card of his retirement was extraordinary. Had it only happened when his parents were still alive.

van Pelt

Five Brothers and a War

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