Photo: BBC
There’s this anecdote about a man who complains to his rabbi about not having enough living space at home, where he lives with six children and his wife, and asks for advice.
Being the wise man that he is, the rabbi tells him to take the goats in as well. The man doesn’t see how that could possibly help, but since he’s not a rabbi, he does as told. A few days later, he returns to the rabbi even more desperate. The rabbi tells him to do the same thing with the chicken.
Our man begins to question the rabbi’s sanity, but he obliges. After one night of torment, he knocks at the rabbi’s door. “It’s even worse,” he says. The rabbi thinks for a second, and then tells him it’s time to get the cow into the house too. The man tries to argue, but to no avail. This time, the rabbi tells him not to come back sooner than one week.
After the week is done, the man crawls to the rabbi’s house tired, slain of all his might and about to lose his mind. He’s desperate. The rabbi calms him down and tells him to go back home and take out the goats, the chickens, and the cow. The next day, the man comes to see the rabbi looking ten times better: “Thanks, rabbi, the house seems empty now.”
The same principle can be applied when speaking of traffic jams. The next time you’re upset with having to spend one hour commuting back to work, think of what happened in Kenya these past days.
A roadblock caused by the disastrous infrastructure (affected by heavy rains) spanned over 30 miles and lasted three days. It happened on the very important highway linking the port town of Mombasa to the Nairobi capital and a series of land-locked African countries like South-Sudan, Rwanda or Uganda.
Some trucks got tired of waiting and tried their luck on the side of the road, but the same heavy rains that affected the highway also turned the ground into a mosh pit, so they didn’t make it too far.
So, the next time you’re stuck in traffic, think how much worse it can be. And if the Kenyan roadblock isn’t enough for you, there’s always the Chinese version: 62 miles and 12 days.
Our man begins to question the rabbi’s sanity, but he obliges. After one night of torment, he knocks at the rabbi’s door. “It’s even worse,” he says. The rabbi thinks for a second, and then tells him it’s time to get the cow into the house too. The man tries to argue, but to no avail. This time, the rabbi tells him not to come back sooner than one week.
After the week is done, the man crawls to the rabbi’s house tired, slain of all his might and about to lose his mind. He’s desperate. The rabbi calms him down and tells him to go back home and take out the goats, the chickens, and the cow. The next day, the man comes to see the rabbi looking ten times better: “Thanks, rabbi, the house seems empty now.”
The same principle can be applied when speaking of traffic jams. The next time you’re upset with having to spend one hour commuting back to work, think of what happened in Kenya these past days.
A roadblock caused by the disastrous infrastructure (affected by heavy rains) spanned over 30 miles and lasted three days. It happened on the very important highway linking the port town of Mombasa to the Nairobi capital and a series of land-locked African countries like South-Sudan, Rwanda or Uganda.
Some trucks got tired of waiting and tried their luck on the side of the road, but the same heavy rains that affected the highway also turned the ground into a mosh pit, so they didn’t make it too far.
So, the next time you’re stuck in traffic, think how much worse it can be. And if the Kenyan roadblock isn’t enough for you, there’s always the Chinese version: 62 miles and 12 days.
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