CREATIVE THINKING

Continental Flair to Dealing With Drugs, Crime, Traffic

I once spent a cold January in Japan. I was in Kyoto, sleeping in a
ryokan. As is often the case in these traditional inns, there was no
central heating. It was so cold I could see my breath - inside my
room. It was dark and the middle of the night. And, of course, I
needed to go down the hall to the toilet.

I put on the loaner kimono. The size was a lady's medium, comically
tight. I put on my hallway slippers, heels hanging over the edge and
shuffled quietly down the hall past balsawood-like walls on creaky
floorboards. At the bathroom, I slipped out of my hallway slippers
and into the awaiting bathroom slippers. They were just as small.

Dreading the frigid toilet seat, I jockeyed my body into position.
Feeling entirely exposed to the cold, I gingerly sat down. Thankfully
the seat was heated. "I love traveling in Japan," I thought.

I've been thinking a lot lately about the wonders of exploring and
experiencing other cultures - from heated toilet seats to heated
discussions about foie gras (illegal in some parts of the United
States, but a chief reason tourists flock to the Dordogne region of
France). We Americans have plenty to be proud about, but we need to
remember the risk of finding too many truths to be "self-evident and
God-given." Because when you travel, you learn that other people find
their own solutions to challenges that confront us all. On my recent
trip, my Swiss, British and Dutch friends impressed me with some
creative thinking.

The Swiss government deals with its social problems with pragmatism
and innovation. Do you have too many cars clogging up downtown or too
many hard-to-employ people struggling to get by on welfare? In
Switzerland, big cities provide free loaner bikes to those who leave
their cars at home. People who would otherwise be collecting
unemployment benefits run the bike system.

Like the United States, Switzerland is dealing with a persistent drug
abuse problem. The Swiss believe the purpose of a nation's drug
policy should be to reduce the harm that drugs cause their society.
Like many Europeans, they treat substance abuse more as a health
issue than as a crime. Rather than fill their jails, the Swiss employ
more compassionate and pragmatic methods.

To help fight the spread of diseases such as HIV and AIDS,
street-side vending machines cheaply dispense government-subsidized
syringes. The government even tries to control where junkies shoot
up. To keep them out of public restrooms, the interiors are lit with
blue light. Why? Because if junkies can't see their veins, they'll
shoot up elsewhere. The government hopes they'll use
heroin-maintenance clinics, which provide counseling, clean needles,
and a safe alternative to shooting up on the streets.

In Switzerland, the casual use of marijuana is tolerated. In Bern,
locals pass joints with no worries in the shadow of the cathedral,
ignored by passers-by. It seems the Swiss simply enjoy life in a
country that believes tolerating alternative lifestyles makes more
sense than building more prisons.

London has some clever fixes, too. It's long wrestled with traffic
congestion. Recently they've instituted a "congestion fee," charging
anyone who doesn't work or live downtown about $16 to drive into the
city center. The money raised subsidizes public transit. On your next
visit you may experience the intended result: cheaper bus tickets,
more buses, and less car traffic - enabling buses and taxis to get
around quicker. Anyone who still wants to drive downtown can - by
paying the congestion fee.

In the Netherlands, where prostitution is legal, prostitutes pay
taxes, get regular medical checkups and even have a union. When a
prostitute pushes her help button, it's the police - not an abusive
pimp - who come to her aid. The pragmatic Dutch know that
prostitution will happen no matter what, so they might as well make
it as crime- and disease-free as possible.

While the Dutch may choose to pay for sex, they may also choose not
to get junk mail. They have a simple solution: mailbox stickers. If
they want to receive mail addressed only to "resident," they post a
"Ja" decal, meaning "yes." If they don't want unsolicited fliers,
ads, and credit-card offers, they post a "Nee" sticker, for "no."
That's a sticker I could use.

One of the many benefits of travel is the eye-opening realization
that there can be logical, civil and even better alternatives to
dealing with life's challenges - from junkies to junk mail.