Another long ride home, No Flooding

No Flooding, but another long ride home

5:31pm and I am on my way home after helping a friend celebrate their birthday after school. It is a Friday, a big day in Indonesia, you go to mosque in the afternoon, all males at our school are allowed to leave work and go to mosque from 12-1pm. What a great mosque motivator. I would love to leave school every Friday for an hour of meditation! Traffic is notoriously bad on Friday and I never stay north and move south at this time, but here I am wondering just how long it will take to do my 20 minute trip home. I walked to the birthday meeting place because it is easier to walk from there than drive. As I walked I was thinking about my reading of moral purpose by Fullan. How could it be that leaders of countries can morally create a city like this? It just has to be a moral dilemma. Granted, I had to walk through what I call the circle of death, but why does such intersections even exist? The pollution is unbearable and you take your life in your hands when you try and cross the street with cars whizzing by and motorcycles swarming! It amazes me to think that they are building the biggest mall in Asia in Jakarta. This city is one huge mall and what is really needed is some green space to walk and play. But I don’t think that green space makes money.

I have now moved on city block in 9 minutes. There is no organized public transport in a city of 20 million people. A leadership that is focused on money is what seems to propel this mega Asian city. Moral purpose does not seem to enter the realm of government here.

The mosques are now singing evening call to pray, but half the population must be on the road. We are in front of a huge mega mall called Seibu on a road that should have 3 lanes but we are 4 lanes with motorcycles weaving in and out to get ahead to the light. Red and white banners still flutter in the breeze in celebration of Indonesian Independence Day last week. The sun is setting and the sky is gray. Jakarta in not a walking city, with poor lighting and holes in the sidewalks. I know I could walk home faster if it was at all pleasant and safe. How does a place like this get better with little moral purpose which is the one leadership component that is steeped in all the other components?

Arrived home 6:31pm exactly one hour drive.