Nothing in life is simple
I have a friend whose favourite phrase seems to be: “It’s simple!”
My response is normally, “No it’s not. Nothing in life is simple.”
To be honest, that response is probably too ‘simple’ in itself, however both phrases are signs of frustration. He’s frustrated because he encounters of objections or hurdles that prevent him from completing something that seems to him to be a straightforward matter. I am frustrated because he doesn’t seem to recognise the complications that arise.
Let’s take a “simple” example … as children we learn the rules of basic arithmetic: 2+2=4, and so on. If we have two toys and are given another two toys, how many do we have altogether? Answer: four toys. This means that 4-2=2. If we have four toys and give away two toys, how many are left? Answer: two toys.
Simple, isn’t it?
That’s fine, but what happens if we get a question like 2-4? We learn that you can’t do it. If you have 2 toys, then you can’t give four away. It’s impossible.
But then we change the situation. If the temperature yesterday was 2° and today it is 2 degrees warmer, what is the temperature today? 2+2 still equals 4. If the forecast for tomorrow says that it will be 2 degrees colder than today, what will the temperature be tomorrow? That’s easy, 4-2 = 2, right? If the following day it the temperature falls by four degrees, what will the temperature be then? So the question is 2-4 – can’t do it – right? Wrong! This is where we learn about “negative numbers” and that 2-4 = -2
OK – it’s a bit more complicated – but it’s still quite simple, isn’t it? Or is it?
The question is the same in arithmetical terms, but the contexts are different so the rules are changed and so the answers are different. In one case it’s “impossible” – you “can’t do it” – and in the other case the answer is -2.
Let’s take another “simple” example … I am sure that Alfred P. Doolittle from Shaw’s Pygmalion, (“the most original moralist … in England”, as Professor Higgins calls him), might well be able to find a counter argument, but most people would agree that it is wrong to steal.
Doolittle’s Monologue from Pygmalion which leads to Professor Higgins describing him as “the most original moralist at the moment in England”:
Don’t say that, Governor. Don’t look at it that way. What am I, Governors both? I ask you, what am I? I’m one of the undeserving poor: that’s what I am. Think of what that means to a man. It means that he’s up agen middle class morality all the time. If there’s anything going, and I put in for a bit of it, it’s always the same story: ‘You’re undeserving; so you can’t have it.’ But my needs is as great as the most deserving widow’s that ever got money out of six different charities in one week for the death of the same husband. I don’t need less than a deserving man: I need more. I don’t eat less hearty than him; and I drink a lot more. I want a bit of amusement, cause I’m a thinking man. I want cheerfulness and a song and a band when I feel low. Well, they charge me just the same for everything as they charge the deserving. What is middle class morality? Just an excuse for never giving me anything. Therefore, I ask you, as two gentlemen, not to play that game on me. I’m playing straight with you. I ain’t pretending to be deserving. I’m undeserving; and I mean to go on being undeserving. I like it; and that’s the truth. Will you take advantage of a man’s nature to do him out of the price of his own daughter what he’s brought up and fed and clothed by the sweat of his brow until she’s growed big enough to be interesting to you two gentlemen? Is five pounds unreasonable? I put it to you; and I leave it to you.
Some of the most interesting and challenging lessons from my time as an RE teacher were on the theme of: “Why is wrong to steal?” We came up with all sorts of answers: the legalistic – it’s against the law; the emotional – you wouldn’t like it if something of yours was stolen; the practical – you’ll be punished if you get caught; the “simple” – “it just is”. The follow up question was, “can you think of an occasion when it would be right to steal?”
Change the “sin” in the question from “to steal” to “to lie”, or “to kill” and you start to open a real can of worms. If it is wrong to lie, then what about a “white lie”? If it is wrong to kill, what about Capital Punishment, or soldiers killing each other in war?
What looks at first glance like something simple – may not be quite as simple as it appears. A lot depends on the context … in a different setting, different rules may apply … and may lead to different conclusions.
This year, in Kyrgyzstan, we have faced a number of very difficult situations and we are currently engrossed in trying to decide what needs to be done in order to recover from them, to rebuild confidence and trust between various groups within society, to rebuild the economy, to ….
In terms of what to do in order to develop tourism, I have heard several suggestions – ranging from establishing a visa free regime for certain countries to developing the airport at Tamchi on the Northern shore of Lake Issyk Kul, creating an “open skies” policy, improving the infrastructure – roads, hotels, etc., better training for staff, encouraging domestic tourism, creating a massive marketing campaign to attract potential travelers, and passing a new law on Tourism. Personally, I am not too sure about the law on Tourism but, it seems to me that is sound logic behind most, fn not virtually all, of the other suggestions.
The visa regime is a hurdle that can deter potential tourists and any simplification which removed, or at least helped to alleviate the difficulties facing potential visitors, would be welcome.
Development of the airport at Tamchi would make access to resorts around the lake easier, making it possible to receive flights from a wide variety of airports in Russian and Kazakhstan, and reducing the time required for airport transfers – currently anywhere from three to four hours from Bishkek.
An “open skies” policy might reduce prices and make it easier to attract airlines to use airports in Kyrgyzstan – especially Manas Airport in Bishkek, as a destination, if not a hub.
Although I don’t think that the main roads in Kyrgyzstan are too bad, they could always be improved and, to be fair, there are a lot of road works underway at the moment to do exactly that. Certain parts of the country are well equipped with hotels and other forms of infrastructure, (such as mobile telephone coverage, banks with full banking services and ATM’s etc.), but once again, there is room for improvement especially if we are to be able to compete with other tourist destinations. Perhaps the most important aspect of infrastructure, as we are constantly being reminded, is the provision of modern toilet facilities.
Training of staff is also important – although many people comment positively about the services they receive from guides, drivers, waiters and so on, there are also many critical comments – too many for comfort, and we are hampered by the fact that the system for establishing training courses is quite cumbersome and bureaucratic.
This years growth in domestic tourism helped to save certain parts of the industry from complete disaster, replacing the absent tourists from Kazakhstan and elsewhere. It has many other potential social benefits as well.
As it happens, I see marketing as one of the most important tasks before us. Each year we have to attract new clients to Kyrgyzstan – and without an information campaign, that could prove to be well nigh impossible.
With many of these suggestions there should be additional benefit benefit to society as a whole – not just to the tourism industry.
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One of the big problems I perceive in the debate is a tendency to oversimplify the situation and hence assume that there is a single solution that will act like a panacea and solve all of the problems facing our industry. Life isn’t simple. It doesn’t matter if we enlarge the airport if there are no flights and no passengers – so we need to advertise and attract new visitors. There is no point in trying to attract visitors if we don’t have the infrastructure to support them when they are here or the level of service is poor. There is no point in training people to meet international standards of service if their are no jobs for them, because their are no facilities to employ them, and/or their are no tourists. A visa free regime on its own may mean that it is easier for tourists to come to Kyrgyzstan, but it will not mean a massive influx of foreign visitors. And so on.
It’s a complex situation and several issues have to be addressed at the same time. In parallel.
We have to take stock of “where we are” and “where we want to go”. Given these two positions, we then need to decide what has to be done in order to achieve our aims. Unfortunately, there will probably be a lot that needs to be done, and some of it will be expensive. So decisions have to be taken. Priorities chosen.
Not everyone will be happy with the decisions taken. So we need to encourage a sense of realism and a recognition that life is not simple.
Instead of seeing things in terms of “black and white” I prefer to think in terms of a set of traffic lights … where Green means go and Red means stop. There are also, however, other signals that traffic lights emit – each with their own meaning: amber, flashing amber, red and amber together, green arrows … and so on.
For example, on one occasion one of our employees made a suggestion that he thought would make an improvement to our operation in Naryn. As usual, he thought it was a simple question and was expecting me give the go ahead – a Green light – but when I pointed out that there were also several drawbacks, he took that as a refusal – a Red light. In fact, it took us a while, but when I had investigated the relevant regulations and felt that the circumstances were favourable, we did implement the suggestion – so, in a way, it was akin to an Amber light: Stop, not now – later.
When it comes to considering setting priorities, I would like to take the Alfred P. Doolittle approach – and think “out of the box” and choose something totally different.
I think that there is one thing that we need most of all. We need a platform, a forum, a place for discussion and lobbying so that we can consider these questions. At the moment there isn’t one. Everyone seizes every opportunity to push their own particular point of view. Including me(!). It’s like a blunderbuss approach – everyone firing off their own particular point in the hope that some of them will strike the target and achieve results – but most of them missing and passing by harmlessly … wasted .
Given a forum in which representatives of all sectors of the industry, (Tour Operators, Hotels and Restaurants, Resorts on Lake Issyk Kul, Community Based Tourism groups around the country, Airlines, Bus companies, the Railway, owners and operators of various tourist attractions, not to mention the government and local authorities), can meet and discuss issues in a serious and open manner can only be helpful. Hearing the ideas, opinions, hopes and aspirations, the concerns and fears of others working in different sectors of the industry can help us all to put issues into context – and, just as when we considered “simple” arithmetic, a lot depends on that context. In a different setting, with new information and new viewpoints in front of us, we may discover that different rules apply than those which we had assumed to be relevant … and it may lead us to new, different, conclusions.
It might – it should – help people to understand the complex and the complexities of the issues facing us … and to come to the realization that it is not a simple matter before us … that nothing in life is simple.
Bishkek