Thoughts from Bali

After almost 20 years of spending many months in Bali, I find myself contemplating the changes, as well as those from growing almost 20 years older. When I first came here in the early 90’s, which by the way was 15 years after some of my friends, there was little phone service, areas that had no electricity and highly undependable service for those areas that did have it. Cell phones, computers and such were unheard of, and although there were motor bikes and old cars, many people walked, rode a horse, or used a bicycle. Although you can still get to remote parts of the island where life is much simpler, in that some small villages still exist without electricity, the Bali I first saw is gone. That is not to say the spiritual, artistic, and culture is not still in tact, because it is but it is sort of like the Gulf Coast in the 60’s and today. The beach is still there and white, the Gulf is still blue and the fish, although much fewer are still there. But the landscape of tall buildings, shopping centers, subdivisions, and thousands upon thousands of tourists have certainly had their effect. Go back 20 years anywhere, and compared to 2009 you will see the work of change.

Nyoman Warta has driven me around this island for over 15 years, helped me understand the culture, especially doing business, and from a young 20 year old without a care in the world he is now a mid-40’s family man with 3 children. The Balinese, for the most part live in family compounds, and when I first met Nyoman he had no home phone and maybe lived with 12 family members. Now there are over 30 people, he has 2 cell phones and a home phone and of course the televisions, DVD’s that go along with 2009. As a young boy he tells me no one had any money to speak of, but the river was full of fish, crabs, and shrimp, and the garden produced 365 days a year. He said people were continuously smiling and when a big ceremony was up-coming, they were celebrating a month ahead. Now pollution has destroyed the marine life, food is purchased, and people work right up to the day of the ceremony and there is never enough money. “Lot stress now Gin” is the way he puts it. Another victim of Western culture. When I first came here, I lived on $20 a day. Five dollars for the room, $3 or so to eat and the rest for whatever. It is true we had no hot water, electricity on and off, no beef, no bacon, and lots of rice, chicken, and fish. Clancy and I still live in a simple bungalow with no a/c but we do have 3 fans, a small refrigerator, cell phone, and a dozen restaurants with wireless. I had a wonderful pasta dish last night with calamari, shrimp, and fish in a cream sauce that was excellent. A fresh salad with a great citrus dressing, and a after dinner late that would shame Starbucks for roughly $12 but over half the $20 that use to pay for everything.
In America I am constantly challenged with things that just “cost too much”; anything from $60,000 cars, to million dollar homes, to $6000 to send a child to a private school. Looking through a recent yachting magazine I was amazed to see the page after page of “mega yachts”, vessels that would cost perhaps a 100 million. It use to be that large yachts were 50, 60, and even 70 feet long, now you simply add another 100 feet and a helicopter or two. I don’t know anyone that could own such a thing, but I do wonder how often they smile, for I do know some people that seem to have little time but to chase more money and protect what they have and have very little time for anything else. As Wolfe said, “you can’t go home again”, and that is true for me, as well as Nyoman but there is a distinct feeling of loss for a more simple time. As one of my Balinese friends said to me recently after just returning from the U.S., “it is impossible to return to what it was like when I was a child after I have been out in the world and seen what is there”. I remember our first television and the whole family sitting there in amazement, looking at this snowy black and white screen. Most homes had no a/c and most families had at most one car. Would I want to return to that? Surly not, but I readily admit life was far more simple---- a ball and bat, Saturday movies for .15, outside until called for supper, and playing games that now are forgotten. I guess if you never played a game with a 2” piece of old water hose and a broom stick, or hid beneath a pier and attempted to swim underwater without the kid standing on the pier jumping on you; or gone to a double feature with a cartoon and serial, then you don’t understand the nostalgia. I am constantly amazed how many 14 and 15 year olds, going up the age ladder to the 40’s, are constantly sending and receiving text messages. I have read where some kids stay awake until early morning texting and wonder if their lives would not be better with a stick and piece of hose. But we will never know that because, “you can’t go home again”.

And old family friend use to quote, “the best of the past is the best of the present”. Good music, good food, good wine, romance, a new baby, were all present before there was America. I remember my son in his early teens arguing this philosophy, stating how you could now fly across the Atlantic in several hours, only to be told, “yes my boy but 15 days on a luxury liner is so much better”. Perhaps these are simply the musing of a man growing older but as I look around in America and Bali as well, I see people racing to get to some unknown destination. Most in the pursuit of money and material objects and I cannot help but wonder, “do they ever get there”? I remember the remark of a very successful physician when asked, “how much is enough”, and his response, “never enough”. Once it was thought that to be a millionaire was truly a financial pinnacle but only a few years ago my son said, “Dad a million is not a lot of money”. If you think I am going to offer some deeply insightful road map to a more peaceful place, I am reminded of the words of His Holiness the Dalai Lama that he offered his audience recently that I had the pleasure of sitting in the audience. As he sat on the stage, feet tucked beneath him he said, “some of you came today because you are curious, and that is fine. Some of you came however thinking you will receive some great knowledge and you will be disappointed”. So I have no road map to offer, perhaps we and the world are where we are supposed to be and karma dictates the world that we now have. His Holiness teaches, “Love, Compassion, Forgiveness, and Self Discipline”. Perhaps in that is the road map.