グアムとインドネシアの違いはどこから来る？
私はグアムにもインドネシアにも行ったことがないので、肌感覚で判断出来ません。
インドネシアも地域が書かれていないのですが、バリ島ならヒンズー圏でイスラム圏ではありません。
下記に出て来るlifeguards ですが、グアムではフィリピン人と考えられますか、それとも白人？
私の乏しい知識で推測するに、グアムには白人文化の「弱者、子供を愛し助ける」文化が強力に生きていて、それがlaifeguards の対応に出ている。インドネシアにはそういう文化がないので冷たい対応。
皆さんの知見と体験ではどう判断されますか？
％％％％％％％％％％％％％％％
Paradise pool
By John Gathright
グアムの「楽園」プールの水難監視員
南国のリゾート、グアムに出かけたギャスライト一家。 筆者が、糖尿病のため腰にインスリン・ポンプを付けてプールで遊ぶ長男のジョニ―君を 眺めていると、一人の女性が声をかけてきました。筋ジストロフィーの娘、アンジェラを連れて ドイツからやってきたお母さんでした。 アンジェラのためにグアムを旅行先に選んだ理由は…。
The Miso Barrel Treehouse Gang went to Guam! We descended from our treetop perch and headed for the deep-blue ocean and tropical beaches. We had fun in the sun, we played in the water and we immersed ourselves in the island culture. We ate great food and met some wonderful people. Life was bliss.
One day I was sitting by the pool, enjoying a fruit juice and cheering on my boys as they played pool basketball, when I heard a soft voice at my side.
"Is that your son?" a woman asked. I smiled politely and said it was. "Is that a medical device on his hip?" she asked. I explained that it was an insulin pump. "Johnny needs to keep it on 24 hours a day," I said. The lady asked if the lifeguards gave us any hassles about it. "Not at all. One of them asked what it was and when we told him he said, 'Hey, cool, isn't science great!' " "Aren't the people at this hotel wonderful!" the woman sighed, "That's my daughter over there playing volleyball in the pool."
I looked over and saw a tiny, fragile girl sitting in a floater chair and smiling from ear to ear. She had a volleyball in her hand and a lifeguard was helping her throw it over the net to a team of anxiously screaming kids. She looked so fragile yet so happy.
The girl's name was Angela and she was from Germany. She had a complicated form of muscular dystrophy. They had named her Angela because it was a miracle that she had lived. Her mother was a nurse and her father was a doctor, and they were able to give her the best care in the world. I asked why they came all the way from Germany to Guam. She then told me a wonderful story.
Two years ago their daughter was 12 and they had just given her a floater chair for her birthday. She also was given tickets to an exclusive beachside resort in Indonesia so she could enjoy her new chair. Angela and her family were so excited. But things didn't go as planned.
When they got to the beach resort, the lifeguard said to them, "Sorry, for sanitary reasons, we don't let small children in the pool, and floating devices are not permitted. I realize that she is handicapped, but rules are rules." The lifeguard politely explained that there was a kiddy pool for children that were too young to control their bladder. The mother and father were flabbergasted. Angela was devastated. They explained that she was tiny, but she was actually 12 years old, had control of her bladder, and had permission to use the floater chair in the pool. But it was too late. Angela was too embarrassed, too hurt, to swim.
So why were they in Guam? Back in Germany they had met another child with muscular dystrophy. He had a floater chair too, but his family had a very different story to tell. When they had gone to Guam and put the floater chair in the pool, a life-guard came over to them. The parents apologized for the chair and he said, "No problem. Anyone can swim in paradise. If it's safe and it doesn't hurt anyone, enjoy it. So, how do you drive this thing?" He asked the boy to take him for a ride and then he introduced him to the other kids. Instantly, he was part of the team and was having fun, like Angela was.
It was a moving story. My heart melted when I saw the tears of joy in Angela's mother's eyes as she told the story. For our family, Angela and her family, Guam was truly paradise — not only because of the sun and the beautiful beaches and the water, but for the kindness of the people who made everyone feel welcome.
