Human Inflation

A writing I get from my fellow Ebi….You might want to see his blog to. Visit his at:http://ebijun.blog.friendster.com/. A very nice article and so moving

One afternoon in 2002, I met a friend by a coincidence. It was right outside the Mandarin Hotel in Sudirman Road. He was just come back from Germany, to see his brother and grandma. Well, he is half Germany.
“what’s new from Germany ?” I asked. “I found a new theory.” He replied. “What’s the theory?” I said enthusiastically. He always was an inspired friend to talk with. I love the way he conveyed his idea. Thought-provoking but yet never want to be dominant speaker. He listened to you as if you have his full attention. And most of all he is a very resourceful man. He once come to my room in University of Indonesia’s dormitory and give me “Food for thought” as preparation before heading to International Student Festival in Throndheim, Norway, back in 1999. And he had to walk to train station late at night, not to mention in the dark scary part of UI’s forests. Hmmm…. suddenly I miss that conversation!

Anyway…. The theory that we were talking under that burning sun and polluted air on Jalan Sudirman was new for me. He said”I think inflation is not only on money, Ebi. It also applies on human. I found that human is worth more in Germany than here in Indonesia ”Well….I was having some short of “racism” paranoid, at one moment, but then I asked “How could you come up with such a conclusion?”
“In Germany, I found that human is treated better than here. Look at the place where we stand here. Just a small pavement for pedestrians, a lousy transportation, not to mention low-quality and expensive education” He replied.
“That might be because we have so many population and Germany has only a few population” He explained further ”As the number of people increase, its individual value is decreasing, isn’t it the same as inflation? The more money in the country, the less its value since its purchasing power decreased” This “human inflation” theory has never been so much valid for me before this morning. Almost all national media in Australia put the story of two miners who was entombed 1 km underground for two weeks, and eventually make a great escape. Surely, the first two weeks news was much influenced by this so called tragedy. It even outweighs the news on interest rate raised by RBA which impacts most of mortgage holders. Two human lives make a difference in the last two weeks media colours. People concern about it. The government and labour associations speak out about the case. In short, they put efforts to save these two lives.

Not let’s come back to Indonesia. How would the reaction if the same things happened. I believe we could not hope to much cover on the same story. People have “got used” to such news. Death due to bus crashed by train or other traffic accidents, due to natural disasters, mal-nutrition babies, etc…etc…(not to mention death due to criminal acts)

Is there such a human inflation? Are we valuing less when we have more? Isn’t saving one life equal to saving the human as a whole? I don’t want to answer it simply because sometimes the fact is too far from the norm.