simple works with sufficient rewards

“Marko.., we are not rich that our country is called to be ‘developed’, but everyone gets equal opportunity here. That’s including you!” was what a person whom I respect (let’s just call him as my ‘jedi tutor’) said to me a couple of days ago.

I was reminded to those words while I was reading ‘How Starbucks Saved My Life’. The book is about a story of a guy who was experiencing a drastically changed lifestyle from being a CEO into a janitor in Starbucks. Being humble and struggle with his new job, he is able to rent an apartment and pay his living cost from the salary he receives. However, my mind is thinking about something else…

My jedi tutor is right. Well.., at least that’s what I really see during my two years and a half stay in here. I don’t see my friends as rich, on the other hand I often see they’re struggling with their lives. Some of my native friends came from a rarely-ever-heard-village. They are here not because their parents sent them, but many of them came here by their own will and without financial support from their family. They do part time works several hours a week, taking night shift and studying in campus the whole afternoon. Few of them got frustrated, some of them got used to the hard-work and becomes successful, and all of them appreciate time and have good time-management skill.

Knowing those facts, my mind is ‘thinking loud’ (borrowing a term from my assistant Professor). If we focus on creating simple jobs with good enough reward, we’re actually creating equal opportunities for many people. Just by concentrating only on creating simple and diverse jobs, and it doesn’t necessarily mean making a huge factory, we help shifting our label from the ‘developing’ into ‘developed’.

I’m not trying to talk smart here. But here’s the thing.. I was studying at a public university which tuition fees were much lower compared to the private universities. Nevertheless, I knew only few of my friends took part time job, and even if they did, they still couldn’t cover the tuition fees and the living cost. If they tried taking many jobs, they would only have few time left to study and found it difficult to pass courses at my university. Well, a friend was working at a franchise restaurant several hours a week but what he earned couldn’t cover his living cost plus school’s tuition fee. He told me he did it just for the experience. The good thing is that my ex-university provides a lot of scholarships. Well, scholarships are also one thing to help people get equal opportunities. BUT if we concentrate on creating many simple jobs with sufficient rewards; jobs in which students and retired people can take part in, we’re creating equal opportunities.

And equal opportunities shift ourselves to become the ‘developed’. And finally I’ll end this with another sentence from my tutor:

“If we have a better look, this country is a successful socialist.. No, I’m not talking about politics or religion way of meaning.. I’m not talking in relation with communism at all.. But you see, the gap between the rich and the poor here is really small.. You rarely find rich people here, but you also rarely find poor people here.. Everyone gets equal opportunities”

p.s.: I respect my ‘jedi tutor’ and hence I’m hiding his real identity.

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