So why then is this group of men so sensitive? Could that have anything to do with their time in the womb?

My father who was a headmaster would often declare: ‘this is an awful class’ or ‘that is a cheerful class’, ‘this one is a sensitive class’ or ‘that one is a do-your-best class’. That remained so and did not change throughout the elementary school years. So it was not just a yearly phase that each class went through.

At elementary school, you are able to see the differences per year much more objectively than at secondary school. By the time they get to secondary school, more students have had to repeat a year and the groups are no longer as homogenous. At elementary school, a group will generally stay together during the six years and take on a particular pattern of reacting.

In the town where I grew up, there was no kindergarten. All of the children up to six and seven years of age were unique, free-spirited individuals. Once they became socially captive – in other words, the first time they went to school – you could see a collective behaviour developing. You see the same pattern at the university level, where students from different regions come together and begin to show signs of collective behaviour (this is also observed in, for example, each draft year of the military service, first aid training programs, etcetera).

So it is not dependent on the characteristics of a single person, such as in astrology, but on the collective behaviour of a class, an age category, or a year group. Anyone who works in a school or with another form of educating people will be able to confirm that some groups are more approachable than others, or lazier, or more dreamy, or less motivated.

When I encounter people who were born in the late forties to early fifties, and women in particular, I notice that they have a strong tendency (more than normal) to help everyone around them and put their own needs last. ‘Others always go first and – if there is time – then me.’ These women are very good at organising the lives of others. But can they do this for themselves just as well? Why does this behaviour typically occur among people born in this period? It doesn’t make sense, does it? This type of behaviour was no longer necessary in the time that the Netherlands was rebuilding and enjoying prosperity and better nourishment.

Do we observe the same differences between year groups of the children today? It seems that this is not so much determined by the upbringing of an individual, but much more by a collective behaviour of a particular age group. Yet this goes against all logic, since the external world (upbringing, social context) does not change that quickly; it does not change in the period of one year.