Elevators and Traffic

Before I was in Indonesia, I had been working as a federal consultant in Washington DC. On this particular day, I was at our Arlington office near Courthouse station and was on my way to the optometrist to get my eyes checked out for blurriness that was making it hard to see. I had just undergone knee surgery for a torn ACL a couple months before, and it was still a little sore. So instead of walking the extra 1000 feet or so to take the escalators and walk down to the station platform, I decided to take the courthouse elevator.

This is the courthouse elevator.

It is the S L O W E S T elevator I have ever taken in my life. It has no reason to be this slow. There are only two buttons, mezzanine and street level. People rarely take this elevator; because it is so painfully slow. Every time, you expect them to have fixed the elevator. And every time, you are horribly disappointed. It's like choosing the wrong line at TSA and watching the family with 3 little kids and a stroller beat you through security, every time.

One of the lifestyle changes I've been trying to implement in my life has been "leaving bait." It's pretty simple. Leave bait, and hope people bite. Say hello, and hope people say hello back. After that, you have to pull in the slack, weave left and right, etc. It's fun. Sometimes you meet really cool people. To leave bait well, one must analyze each situation and person carefully. Sometimes, all it takes is a compliment. Other times, it requires intense eye contact and erotic body undulations.

This time, I decided to comment on the elevator as three of us walked inside.

"This is quite possibly the slowest elevator I've ever taken."

Standing in the opposite corner of the elevator was a short, 50 year old Latino man in dusty construction clothes. The leathered wrinkles around his eyes are the type people get when they smile too much.

"I don't think it's slow at all, I think we could all probably learn a thing or two from this elevator."

I'm not a particularly religious person, but I feel like God spoke to me through that Latino man. The whole time I was in DC, I complained that "DC people are always so rushed in a place where congress is grid-locked and nothing gets done." I guess I had begun to get sucked into that rushed lifestyle without knowing it. It's important to take a step back and breathe.

And there is no better place to take a step back and collect yourself than in Jakarta, especially when dealing with one of it's beasts known as Traffic (I would hold your breathe here, everything's so dusty). Traffic is so bad here that I could probably fly to another country in the time that it takes to get from one side of the city to the other. But I guess you make the most of it. I practice bahasa Indonesia with the cab driver and once I've run out of Indonesian words in my limited vocabulary, I get to take a step back and reflect on the whirlwind of a life I've been leading. When you do get out of traffic though, I think it really helps you appreciate the time you spend hanging out with friends and learning from them.

In the US we use the term, "time is money." Here, Indonesians use "jam karet,"  which means "time is like rubber, it's flexible." While you might have plans one day, you never know when a friend or a neighbor will randomly stop by, or traffic will prevent you from making your event. Things can always be done tomorrow.

Jam karet. I like that. The dollar bills in your wallet are replaceable. They only last a couple days. The moments you share with others will warm your heart forever.

People are important. What else do you think you'll take with you to heaven?