Robert@PNG

Yep!

Yet again!

On this occasion - yesterday afternoon at the local Papindo supermarket at West Goroka and a la Highland's style!

Queue jumping in PNG drives me nuts and the poor guy that jumped the queue in front of me yesterday afternoon at Papindo's - copped a belly full from me fair square.

I yelled at the girl behind the cash register, I yelled at security
staff and I yelled at the owner. I was ropable and let them all have a
swig of my bile as it was being spat out. Then outside - the guy that
jumped the queue - an Engan - he copped another mouthful. All in the presence of Eli.

As usual, the crowds gathered around to see what all the commotion was about and I heard afterwards (from Eli) that folks found it very amusing to see a white skinned bloke letting off his cool. Releasing a bit of anger now in public is a very civilised thing to do by Highlander standards. Very healthy really - to let go of a anger every now and then. Us folks in the West tend to keep emotions bottled up - especially grief and anger - two emotions openly expressed by the Highlanders in public.

The trick is to have a go at the action rather than the person. As long as one attacks the action it's - it's cool. As soon as you step over
that line and start going the person(s) one might be asking for trouble. The bloke was wrong to jump the queue and he knew it. So (by Highlander standards) it was totally OK to let him have a piece of my mind.

But… (there's that “but” again)!

When I got home - I had a sit (meditation) and became aware of how much I suffer in PNG as a result of being very very attached to not wanting folks to jump the queue - especially when I'm standing there waiting to be served. When Buddhists say that attachment lies at the very cause of human suffering - it's not very difficult for me to see attachment and suffering in action.

Not going to stop me from blowing my cool next time though!!

And fuck Papindo - never going back to shop there again! (even if it is the only store in West Goroka that stocks fresh coffee!).

Did you know that I had mastered the art of cutting of my node to spite my face a long time ago! In fact, I'm a world champion.

Bloody suffering!!

(By the way - we had a great weekend and a very relaxing time at Waraguma - and only two road blocks on the way back home!)