Change of View
I know the world a certain way. When I picture a globe in my head, it is centered on the United States and the Western Hemisphere. Today on the plane I looked at a globe illustration that was centered on India and it occurred to me that this might soon be a more relevant view of the world. It encompassed a vast majority of the world’s population. China & India dominated the perspective. Here is where it is likely that many of the next great global companies and development will be born. With Indo-China’s influence constantly on the rise, their importance in the world’s future is practically guaranteed.  This surely will have an effect on future Americans. Might my children know the products, stars, and companies of these nations better than their own? With more than one true superpower on the globe, might the foreign policy of these nations gain more importance than that of the West? Will my children be packing their bags for this place in hopes of finding opportunity and riches? I can sense the pride, confidence, and hope the people here have for such a future and they are working hard to achieve it. The American-centric world I grew up in is certainly going to face competition it seems
-- We got up early and went to the airport to catch a plane to Mumbai. Jet Airways, an Indian airline, aims to be one of the top 5 air-carriers in the world and the quality of service showed they were on their way. During the flight, I looked down at my shoes, one was definitely cleaner than the other. It got me thinking.  The night before, while waiting at the train station, a man started cleaning my shoes. I told him “no thanks” at least a dozen times. I explained that I would not pay and that he was wasting his time. He persisted. Finally, I had to stand up and move in order to get him to stop. This type of thing happened everywhere, all day. It was a constant barrage of beggars and salesman. My policy, I reasoned, should be consistent, either give in to them all or don’t give in at all. I was working off ‘not at all’ since the other option was impossibly expensive. But here were my shoes…and one was indeed cleaner than the other. Perhaps I should have let the man finish cleaning my shoes. For a pittance, both of them could have been clean. He was, after all, earning a legitimate living performing a service. . . I started thinking that perhaps it was unfair to put these micro entrepreneurs in the same category as the beggar and that my policy might need room for an occasional street service. After all, every now and then it would be nice to have freshly cleaned shoes. |
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