That was the great lesson. Lesson through demonstration.
"Once upon a time, Paa chu river was very clean....." She began narrating. (Well, she has come all the way from USA to see how Bhutan can turn the concept of GNH into reality, at least in the long run). And in a while, a participant came forward to help put leaves and flowers into a blue bucket which contained clean water as she(narrator) continued the story. Sighing said she "This is Pachhu during those days". She let every workshop participant stare the water inside the bucket. We could even see our own face on the water surface through those flowers and leaves-a little exaggeration here.
The story continued; some more participants came forward one by one with different ingredients.
By the time story ended, the colour of the water was completely different from what it was at the beginning: clean, transparent liquid has finally changed over to simply murky substance. Now, it was nothing more than mixture of wastes from engines, construction sites...and you name it all. That was in deed perfect allegory, perfect lesson for GNH country which considers environment conservation as one of the important values/aspects. In Bhutan, do we really consider "Use me" dustbins?. If we do, there is no reason to see plastic covers/wrappers laying just besides dustbins to the mercy of blowing wind. Do we even heed the board saying "Washing cars prohibited along this river side"? Instead we see increasing wastes, converting to real murky situation. You agree me? And perhaps you may be one of us contributing to the effect.
After the demonstration, that professor from NAROPA university posed the question: What would be the consequences? Who suffers?. After a short while, one participant stood up to say, " it all goes to India", with a sense of humor though. Interesting! isn't it? But the fact is we buy Indian FISH for our curry.
So, that was the unforgettable lesson I have ever learned from that two-week workshop. Let Contemplative education, mindfulness, Gross National Happiness, holistic education system, Participatory Action Research, meditation, Research Team, Coaching groups, Focus Groupsbla, bla bla be in my head, but I will not forget the "Paa Chu" story. You don't forget too!!!
"Once upon a time, Paa chu river was very clean....." She began narrating. (Well, she has come all the way from USA to see how Bhutan can turn the concept of GNH into reality, at least in the long run). And in a while, a participant came forward to help put leaves and flowers into a blue bucket which contained clean water as she(narrator) continued the story. Sighing said she "This is Pachhu during those days". She let every workshop participant stare the water inside the bucket. We could even see our own face on the water surface through those flowers and leaves-a little exaggeration here.
The story continued; some more participants came forward one by one with different ingredients.
By the time story ended, the colour of the water was completely different from what it was at the beginning: clean, transparent liquid has finally changed over to simply murky substance. Now, it was nothing more than mixture of wastes from engines, construction sites...and you name it all. That was in deed perfect allegory, perfect lesson for GNH country which considers environment conservation as one of the important values/aspects. In Bhutan, do we really consider "Use me" dustbins?. If we do, there is no reason to see plastic covers/wrappers laying just besides dustbins to the mercy of blowing wind. Do we even heed the board saying "Washing cars prohibited along this river side"? Instead we see increasing wastes, converting to real murky situation. You agree me? And perhaps you may be one of us contributing to the effect.
After the demonstration, that professor from NAROPA university posed the question: What would be the consequences? Who suffers?. After a short while, one participant stood up to say, " it all goes to India", with a sense of humor though. Interesting! isn't it? But the fact is we buy Indian FISH for our curry.
So, that was the unforgettable lesson I have ever learned from that two-week workshop. Let Contemplative education, mindfulness, Gross National Happiness, holistic education system, Participatory Action Research, meditation, Research Team, Coaching groups, Focus Groupsbla, bla bla be in my head, but I will not forget the "Paa Chu" story. You don't forget too!!!
