Spending Time

My colleague Undi has an interesting hobby, if you can call it that. I have teased him as a person who has prioritas tidak jelas (unclear priority), with a peculiar inkling towards books especially in their handling.

Like most people who love books, he can’t resist from buying books. Yet unlike most people who love books, he worships books to the extent that he would copy his own books and read the copies instead. For treasured books, he would scan them, save them in his external hard drive, print copies of the scan, and read the copies.

I asked him this morning why he would bother doing that, considering the time and effort it takes. He said it’s mainly for safekeeping. In case all his books burn down, he still have multiple copies, both soft and hard. Hard core obsession if you ask me.

But then this remind me of a comment another friend made after reading my blog recently. He said that I should be spending the time instead to read journals to extend my own learning, which is what he would do in his spare time.

Same finite spare time, different choices. I guess we all have some obsessions which others would find peculiar, or simply a waste of time. Does it mean some people value their time more than others? Or is the way we spend our time reflect our values in life?

Bottomless Pit

Flood in Bandung. More ferry and plane accidents. Sigh.

Had lunch with Head of Outreach from a well-known educational foundation that conducted teacher trainings, distributed scholarships, etc. Asked him how they go about selecting the schools to target their teacher training programs, and how the responses are.

It hasn’t been easy. Most teachers and headmasters would rather not get any programs running in their schools. Extra programs mean extra work. There is no need to further their own knowledge. As is, they are content. Have a nice, easy life. Why bother?

Sigh.

How long can one go before they hit absolute bottom and realize that it’s time to change? Or is it a bottomless pit?

On Eating Habits

Recently I’ve been working on a survey for a continuation of this study. My colleagues and I are interested in how we can infer a person’s habit in delaying instant gratification. I came up with this idea that since some people would eat their best meal last, wouldn’t it reflect their behavior in saving the best for last?

This naive idea was soon dropped out of the survey as in a quick survey with family and friends, it became apparent that eating habit did not really reflect anything about delaying instant gratification. But there are more interesting findings.

My sister and I both would save the best bite for last. My brother also has this tendency, but his pattern is more carefully planned. In eating a plate of various foods, he would sample all, eat the least tasteful, then the better one, back to the least tasteful before diving into his last very tasteful bite.

My friend Fendelina would eat the best bite first until she is satisfied, and then move on to the least tasteful. When she’s full, she would stop eating. Ferdinand would eat according to his mood. Sometimes it’s saving the best for last meal, other times it’s the reverse, and still others he would eat based on the visual appeal of the foods on his plate. He also mentions that he always plan how he would eat his meal, which is strange considering he is probably the most laissez-faire person I know.

Kayee would eat her meal according to the practicality of eating. She usually starts with food she can eat using only a fork, then a fork and a spoon, and last the one she needs to dig her fingers into.

What is your eating habit? What do you think it entails?

The City: Whose Responsibility?

On Monday, Institute for Ecosoc Rights (Ecosoc) organized a workshop on public participation in urban planning, inviting various stakeholders of Jakarta from citizens, professionals, academics, activists, and government officials. A brief summary of the workshop was covered in this Kompas article [1].

What I found interesting from the workshop was the comments that were brought up by the audience. The participants representing stakeholders of the city were skeptical and defensive of each of their roles in the city.

Academics and researchers questioned Ecosoc’s decision to use Bangkok as comparison instead of other best practices from within Indonesia, mentioning Jakarta as the more diverse and complex case, and the fact that Bangkok’s culture and political system was different than Jakarta’s. Does it mean that comparative studies can’t be useful? Does it mean that Jakarta is utterly hopeless?

Activists and community representatives mentioned that most members of the urban poor community didn’t know how they could participate, and most of them were not interested to participate until they were encountered by problem such as eviction. Does it mean they can’t be informed? Does it mean they can’t understand the importance of civil society?

Government officials on the other hand said that most members of the community were so used to being colonized that they had mentality that would make it difficult to progress. Well, does it mean that the government can’t do anything to educate the community?

Two issues could be underlined. Firstly is that most of Jakarta’s stakeholders would rather avoid taking responsibility and ownership of the problem of the city. Most would rather blame it on other parties, rather than thinking what each could do to contribute. Secondly, the feeling of distrust exists among different stakeholders. Where would you start?

Added:
[1] Note that I wasn't aware there was a journalist in the audience. He did not interview me and I can't remember saying the words within the quotation marks. All that was written in the article was just the journalist's own interpretation. Another example of bad journalism?

The Value of Lives in a Flat World

A child in Morocco, his life ended by gunshots.
A Japanese teenage girl, drowned by her own sorrowful thoughts.

Babel. Alejandro Gonzales Inarritu's.

The American couple was saved by a U.S. helicopter from a remote Moroccan village.
Their Mexican nanny was soon deported from the U.S.

What is the value of a life?
Is it depend on we the living?
Or on them who govern nations and decide upon how much lives should be valued?

Bono in his introduction to Jeffrey Sachs' “The End of Poverty”:

“… the idea of equality. What is happening in Africa mocks our pieties, doubts our concern, and questions our commitment to that whole concept. … Deep down, if we really accept that their lives – African lives – are equal to ours, we would all be doing more to put the fire out. It’s an uncomfortable truth.”

A shooting incident that linked them all.
Inarritu’s way of interpreting and representing the world that to Thomas Friedman is flat?

And Jeffrey Sachs’ own words:

“Am I an optimist? Optimism and pessimism are beside the point. The key is not to predict what will happen, but to help shape the future.”