“One’s destination is never a place, but a new way of seeing things. Henry Miller
Traveling has always fascinated me. I have embarked on many journeys. And the best ones have been those that have revealed facets of life to me.
In this article, I would like to share with you an eye-opening experience that I had on one of my recent travels.
A couple of months ago, I was fortunate enough to have the opportunity to visit Geneva, Switzerland. The purpose of my visit was to deliver a presentation at the 4th Session of the Global Platform for Disaster Risk Reduction (GPDRR). The event was hosted by the United Nations of International Strategy for Disaster Reduction, and was officially opened by the President of Switzerland, Ueli Maurer.
Both the airports are modern ones. Like many other airports the world over, they are well-lit, spacious, and easy to maneuver.
But I learned a lesson that I hadn’t in the Asian airports that I have visited so far.
At the Asian airports I have visited, I needed to struggle a bit to get a trolley or luggage cart for my suitcase. Most often, I would see that the trolleys were already in the hands of porters who offered to wheel your luggage around for a fee.
Things turned out to be different at both the airports in Istanbul and Geneva. I easily spotted a line of vacant trolleys!
But I soon realized that I couldn’t use one unless and until I inserted a coin into a slot machine to which the line of trolleys was attached. The slot machine mechanically operated the release of each trolley – but only after a coin had been inserted into it.
The coin is a small one – in Istanbul it is one lira, and in Geneva it is one franc. I was new to the place, so I had some difficulty in obtaining a coin. But once I had inserted it into the machine – viola! A trolley was detached from the chain, ready for my command!
Does this mean that I paid a lira or a franc for the use of a trolley? No. I learned that I could get my coin back – but only after I returned the trolley, neatly, to a designated place.
A similar machine, after I had cleared customs, would return a coin to me – but only after I had chained my trolley to another trolley in the right position.
If for some reason a passenger did not wheel the trolley into its proper position, he could not get his coin back. It would go to whoever put his trolley back properly – even a stranger.
Here, the point is not about giving or retrieving a small coin. It’s about a much bigger issue – it’s about the sense of discipline that the system encourages. It’s about the sense of responsibility to respect the rules.
As all of us know, rules are everywhere - but obeying them does not come easily to most people! Here I was struck by the inspiring idea of how a small object can instill in people a sense of respecting public property.
”Do you want your coin back?” In my mind, the trolley was asking me that question. “Then put me back where I belong!”
I wonder if this idea of giving and retrieving a coin can be applied to other areas in our daily life…
Anggi Nurqonita
SMAN 98 Jakarta
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