On a mountain side in Nepal, as I waited by a broken down bus far from any kind of life, it was all out into perspective.
It was morning and we needed to travel the 40km back to Kathmandu with books, stationary and Montessori materials. (9 hours) on a bus for 400 rupees, or 12 minute flight at 10,000 rupees.
I said “Hey let’s fly”, but my friend Anand insisted we take the bus. I argued that we would be there in time for breakfast but the bus would take all day. A day wasted!
After sitting on the bus for 8 hours and still not even half way there, it broke down. The wheel fell off. The driver asked everyone to disembark and informed us that another bus was on it’s way. It’s origin, the same place we had left from.
So as we waited the ten hours by the side of the road on a dusty mountain pass I asked Anand. “Hey why didn’t we just take the flight. Yes it costs a little more but we wouldn’t have wasted a whole day.”
His response put everything in perspective.
He said. “In your culture you have lots of money but no time, everyone is rushing and life passes you by. Here, time is the only currency we have and I will enjoy the next 10 hours talking to you and looking into the wilderness. If there’s one thing undervalued in this world it’s time.”
#montessori #teacher #life
