Love for environment can boomerang

Love for environment can boomerang

Most Japanese people care about the environment. After all, Japan
is the birthplace of the Kyoto Protocol.

But love for the environment can boomerang on one in countries
like Indonesia, where most people are not particularly concerned
about the state of the planet.

T. Kamamara (not his real name), an ambitious young executive
who loves the environment, decided not to use plastic as it was
not environmentally friendly.

He was sent to Jakarta from Tokyo on a one-year training
course.

One day, he visited a supermarket in Pasar Minggu, South
Jakarta, to buy a T-shirt. He bought the T-shirt and paid the
money to the cashier. However, he politely refused the plastic
bag he was offered.

As he was leaving the supermarket with the T-shirt in his
hand, a security guard stopped him at the exit and asked him why
he was leaving with a T-shirt. It is normal practice to put
purchased goods in plastic bags in supermarkets in Indonesia.

There was not enough time for our Japanese friend to explain
the situation to the security guard. All of a sudden, onlookers
attacked him and started beating him mercilessly for stealing the
T-shirt.

Luckily, the cashier recognized his face from a distance and
came to his assistance.

Kamamara is still very angry with those who attacked him, but
not with the security guard.

"I could accept it if the security guard hit me. Because it is
his duty to protect the store. But I cannot accept what those
others did. What on earth reason did they have to beat me up?" he
asked bitterly. -- JP