Concrete Thinking
Christy and I made it back to Jakarta safe and sound. This city is interesting, but man, it never stops. It can be exciting but also really overwhelming!
After checking into my room at Le Meridien, I had a little time to sit in the window in my room and watch the comings and goings of Jakarta. When I watch the traffic I'm reminded how different this society is than mine. With so many people in such a small area, there is very little "alone time". People are pretty focused on personal responsibility and helping each other. The good of the collective is important and it seems everyone tries to contribute in some small way.
When I watch the traffic, I see this abstract idea in a concrete form. Although the roads all have stripes and what looks like lanes, no one really observes them. There seems to be no speed limits either. Yet, traffic flows with few accidents. It is understood that if a vehicle needs to go from the outside lane to the inside lane, four lanes over that people will let them through, even if it means having to wait a few good minutes until traffic can then flow again. The motorcycle people are often called impatient because they zip in and out of the cars at various speeds. Sometimes they make me cringe. (Lasma said that most of the motorcycle wrecks are with other motorcycles rather than cars. Wow!) Even so, there is just this idea that no one is more important than anyone else and being "first" isn't as important as just getting to your destination.
When Christy and I were in the airport, our plane was called to board. We stood up and head to the long line to board the bus that would take us across the tarmac to the plane. We weren't in a rush but were among the second or third group to line up. As others lined up behind us, many walked right past us and merged into the line ahead of us. At first I was rather annoyed. I considered calling them out and reminding them that there was a line and we all needed to wait patiently, and then....then I laughed. It was exactly like driving in Jakarta. It wasn't rudeness but rather the understanding that there is no personal space and if you lag behind, someone will step in and fill the void. I don't like standing in line or in a big group with no personal space. I'm really short (4'11") and so people's elbows are sometimes at nose height plus I just don't like not being able to see or breath when I'm crowded in. But here, I'm one of the tall people (I know, hard to believe!) and because there are just S.O. M.A.N.Y. P.E.O.P.L.E. everywhere, there is little personal space in the ways I'm used to. Finally I just stepped back and let everyone that needed to move forward move and eventually we all got on the bus and to the plane and arrived in Jakarta on time. Perspective.
At home the focus is on individual rights. We over focus so much on this that we don't focus enough on personal responsibility or common sense. Just as long as no one steps on my rights....UGG! This has led us to a society that is so egocentric. No wonder most of the world considers us rude and impatient. We have rules that protect us from ourselves (temperature of drive through coffee anyone?). What are we so busy with that we can't stop thinking about our individual rights for a few moments to notice the whole in the parking lot we are about to fall into or understand that microwaving a toy poodle is not a good idea? Oh, don't get me wrong. There are a million reasons why I'm happy to be an American, but being in such a humble country that works so hard to get along with each other makes me wonder where we're going....
