Columns:
Men with a Mission: Jonathan the Goat
 
 
By: Wouter van de Zandschulp

A nice couple was walking on the street. The man was a big shouldered, macho kind of guy. His girlfriend looked white and fragile under his enormous arms.
Suddenly a man in a sort of goat-costume jumped them from the bushes.
"Buy..." he started, when the strong man, without any hesitation, launched the 'goat' of the ground, held him in the air and hit him again.
'... goat milk..." Jonathan, dressed in the goat costume said.
"This isn't a robbery?" the strong men asked.
"It's.. ouch... aggressive marketing, I've learned" Jonathan replied, in pain.
"Cute costume. Can I buy some goat milk?" the woman asked, while her boyfriend looked at her in a bit of a strange way.

Due to the force of the law Jonathan had began his career in marketing with Goat Milk Inc., a company harassed by people asking if they sold ink as well. As such, he was forced to dress up into a goat uniform and force goat milk on innocent passers by. Actually, he just wanted to make up songs, poems and story's to entertain the masses, but due to the intense marketing training he could not find the time for this anymore.

After a while Jonathans' new way of daring to speak out and his performing creativity caused him to make the goat an unique character on his own. Jonathan learned to 'beehh' like a goat better and better each day and he want to several lengths to get into character. Herding made his mouth all filled with grass, but he did all it took.
After a while, the people started to recognise him.

"It's Jonathan the goat!"
"Can I sit on his back mom, pleeeeease?"
"Someone draw a picture of me with Jonathan the Goat!"

The goat got known and loved for his clumsy attitude, his witty remarks and his nice songs. It did not take long till the owners of Goat Milk Inc. realised that much more milk got sold by Jonathan the Goat than by any other employee. Soon Jonathan the Goat merchandise came more and more popular.
After some while, a painter came over to repaint the old Goat Milk Inc. logo. Their new symbol was Jonathan's head with the horns, the ears and the small white hair under the chin of a goat. Jonathan looked up at his face and said to himself, touched: "You've got to be proud of that."

Soon the hype on goat milk got bigger and bigger. Jonathan enjoyed this tremendously. He was now found walking the streets, giving autographs and even signed autographs to anyone who wanted or did not want them.
"Even if you are Jonathan the Goat, that does not mean that you can draw on bag, and..." was heard some day, but Jonathan went on and on signing people and even animals.
"Shall I sing again?" he asked.
An enthusiastic mob gathered round him again.
"Beh, beh, beh, the milk is be-e-e-e-e-tter! Beeeeetter that other miiiiiiilk!"
No-one even objected to the fact that 'miiiiii' is not a traditional goat sound.
"Put you hooves together, ladies and gentleman!"
Jonathan startled for a minute. Inside the audience he saw the old man. His act suddenly did not work out all that well anymore.
"You forgot all about our meeting" he said.
"Ssssshh!!!" angry children shouted.
"Let him! That's Gandalf!" another one shouted.
"I'm not Gandalf" the old man muttered. "So this is what has become of you. A goat. That's your career on you own."
"I am quite popular!" Jonathan called out. "More than we ever were!"
"You have sold out" said the old man. "And what happened to your emotional poems which had creativity and artistic value?"
"I had to take this job. Do you think I enjoy this. But I must not get the name of the company in danger. Got to make like a goat again."
The old man seemed just to leave. But he turned around one more time, with a lot of emotion crossing his stern face.
"You know, for the first time ever I am beginning to think I should not have gotten you of your roof."
Jonathan looked at him walking away speechless and felt like the old man had left him alone for real for the very first time.

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