Is ambition a dirty word?

On Saturday, the Volkskrant rolled out the red carpet for Mies Bouwman. Surprising and refreshing, she gave her unfiltered opinion on everything and everyone. And at a quarter past four in the afternoon, Mies found a perfect moment to share a glass of wine with the Volkskrant journalist. I found that amusing. And the account of her struggle after the death of her husband, with whom she had been together for sixty years, I found heartbreaking.

Still, I had to occasionally, I am aware that people will hate me for this, let out a small irritation. That no one is really themselves on TV anymore. That it was all more fun back in the day. That Chantal is just way too busy. That Wendy might be sweet, but doesn’t fully show her true self. Linda de Mol apparently wasn’t even worth discussing. Still, the queen of television seems to me. But anyway. Eva Jinek deserved a comment from Mies. She was good, that must be said, but she was ‘full of ambition’, Mies didn’t see a relaxed presenter.

Ambition. In America a compliment, in the Netherlands it has something dirty attached to it. Something you should be ashamed of. Something that makes you unkind. Or something like that. I personally feel like I always have to justify the fact that I work full-time. As if that implies I would be a less good mother. But when are you a good mother? If you work three days? Or is four okay too? Just barely? Is there a judge who decides who is a good woman when? I work five days but am my own boss, so I can easily block out time in my calendar when the teacher has scheduled me for a school trip. And I never go on vacation with friends. See, now I’m already defending myself. Working hard and ambition is at the very least something you have to apologize for.

Not very strange, because in Roman times the word ambitio already had a negative connotation. Ambitio meant that you went around among people to solicit votes. In the Van Dale, you find under ambition the description: ambition, striving to make a career. Thirst, desire for honor or fame. Doesn’t sound like something you think: I want my daughter to be like that?

Fortunately, there’s good old Machiavelli (you know, the one from divide and conquer), who wrote that ambition, when used for the right purposes, is a good trait. Working your ass off to want to make the best talk show in the Netherlands seems to me a particularly good trait. We call that healthy ambition. Just as healthy as that naughty four o'clock snack of our Mies.