Learning Lessons !!!

It was a brand new day. Mornings are normally the busiest part of day. Especially, for women as they need to prepare themselves and the rest of the family for a new day. I too have hectic mornings and this morning was not an exception. Only after my half sky left for work, I managed to see myself carefully in the mirror. I was deeply touched by someone’s post in the face book last week. “It’s you to decide how you want yourself to be seen in the mirror. You have two options. Start your day counting wrinkles on your face or gather the guts to see yourself beautiful and feel high. I chose the second option for myself.

Suddenly, the bell rang. I was expecting a mail from USA as my best friend said that she has posted me some gifts. I have always been excited about gifts so I ran to open the door. But, my guess went wrong. In front of me stood a Japanese guy with familiar looking piece of plastic pack in his hand. I could soon figure out that it was a “Wai Wai” pack. “Wai Wai” instant noodle normally is one of the very often packed items in every luggage that checks out the international airport in Nepal. But, what is this guy doing with this pack? Before, I could make out any meanings; he asked me if I was from Nepal. I proudly replied “yes”. I have always been amazed by the Japanese way of making one realize mistakes. Even if I make a mistake, they are the one to apologize first. He asked me if I had by mistake mixed that pack to the burnable organic garbage. I was shocked, not because I must have been more careful so but the way he used the pack to trace me. I could then understand this interesting story though I was already ashamed of the guilt to ask how he confirmed that it was me. Actually, the “Made in Nepal” note in the thrown away pack made him knock my door. We are indeed the only Nepalese in the neighborhood. I apologized and assured him that I would be more cautious ahead. He left with a smile. His smile could be interpreted in multiple ways. I could take it as a big blow on my face for my negligence or to keep my moral high I could take it as a reward for admitting my mistake. Once again, I decided to stick to the second possibility.  

By the time, he was gone I realized that I was getting late for my Japanese class. I quickly dressed up, packed my bag and was ready to move. I rushed to the community center for the class. Though, it is only about 5 minutes walk I need to cross the traffic signal once which unfortunately at this time was red. I needed to wait while I had only a minute left for the class. It is not very welcome if you are late anywhere in Japan so I had two options. I could either wait for the signal to go green and enter class a bit late or cross the signal in red to be on time for class. I live in a small city where traffic is usually sparse. The road was all clear and I could see not even a clue of any upcoming vehicle. I decided to cross and marched ahead in red light. After crossing the road, I turned back to see the crossing line that witnessed me breaking the rules. On the other side of the street, I could see a school boy of hardly 6 years who was still waiting for the signal to go green. In hurry, I missed noticing this little boy who was waiting patiently to follow the traffic rules. He smiled at me. This time his smile was crystal clear. It could hold no double meaning. I was totally embarrassed for what I had done and his innocent smile made me realize my fault. When six years old had such a respect for the traffic rule, how could I be so irresponsible in haste?

Two interesting incidents of the day urged me to think over and over. In the first case, I was not careful while segregating waste while in the other case; I intentionally broke the traffic rule. I cannot make a silly excuse by justifying that I come from a developing country where breaking rules are not serious offense.

Now, let me compare myself, with the same six years old boy. He waited in the traffic signal as he has been taught to follow the traffic rules. I was taught the same at almost his age, however, he is practicing what he learnt while I learnt and didn’t practice. So, the difference is in the practice not in education. If majority don’t segregate waste and disregard the traffic signal, breaking rule becomes a rule. What if majority follows rule? Then the minority breaking the rules will start obeying them in embarrassment. We often don’t take these things seriously as we think that everyone is doing so. However, just because everyone is doing doesn’t mean that’s the right thing to do. Have we been conscious enough to at least make sure that we are practicing what we have been taught? We have been taught exactly same rules that developed country students learn.  But, we always have played blame games and figured out the weaknesses that exist in our system. We tend to forget that we are the ones making this system. We underestimate our guts to change the system simply by transforming our personal attitude. We have always counted the wrinkles in our face but have we ever thought of ways to look more beautiful?