good ideas

After having experienced life in South Asia, I can't help but compare it to life in America. And I've noticed that, of course, there are things that America has to offer to South Asia, but surprisingly, South Asia has some to offer to America as well.

We'll take what South Asia could glean from America first: people who keep track of medical records. First of all, this is a country of a billion people, many of whom could use a better job, or a job at all. Why not employ some people to work at doctor's offices and hospitals who keep the medical records? Instead of what to me seems like such a logical thing, the patients themselves have to hold on to our own records, and lug them around everytime we go back to the doctor. There are no patient charts, and doctors here have no comprehension why this crazy foreigner has once again forgotten to bring her records with her, and so makes it hard on the doctor to figure out how to treat her or know her history. I try, really I do. But I am so accustomed to not having to take anything but money to the doctor's office that I forget about half the time to take my charts with me. South Asia, why not make it easier not only on the patients, but also on the unemployed, and hire some people to keep record of medical charts?

There are 2 great ideas that work here that I think should be copied in America, pronto. One is the movie theater seating charts. I can't tell you how many times we have gone to the movies in America, getting there pretty early too, only to find that there are no two seats together, and the people already sitting refuse to move over one seat. Here, when you buy your tickets, you also must pick out where you will sit. They show you a little diagram of the movie theater, you pick out your seats, they print the seat numbers on the tickets, no one has surprises when they arrive in the theater, neither did they have to arrive 5 hours before the movie started just to make sure they could sit together, and everyone is happy.

Another great idea to introduce to America is the traffic light timer. When you sit at some traffic lights here, you can see a little countdown timer telling you just how much longer it is until your light turns green, or the opposite, how much time you have before your green light turns red. And if that's not enough to lower stress during traffic, if you do miss the green light and have wait, the red lights will sometimes actually say, "Relax" on them. Who can stay stressed with that reminder?