Old School vs. New School

Old School vs. New School

As I have mentioned before,during the past few weeks I have been in Serbia handling a few documents. and in the newly democratized country or newly capitalized country if you would. things are bureaucratic and foggy. so i was going crazy registering and getting my passport and registering Mira. any way that is not the point. what struck my attention is the old family friend who has been helping us work through the system.

I noticed that he tends to listen to what ever the "civil servants" would tell him whiteout discussion. My brother or I would question and ask about the regulations, he did not have the inclination to question anything they say or any document they ask for. which I find really strange. another thing is he wants to finish a task before starting the next one, even though we would save a lot of time and money for that matter if we did a few steps in parallel, he resisted every time my brother or I would suggest doing so.

Not sure if this is really the difference between older people who lived in another time, or is it an ex-Communist regime thing. but I am always struck by how older people " our parents generation" view a working week as short waiting period were we view it as a huge waste if time, just because we live in a very fast time. and they lived in a time where things were taken slower.

I see this as an advantage we have over them, but also I lament the fact that we did not have the chance to sit back and relax. and not to have to stress about deadlines, not to have to run in circles all the time. Time means more to us than it did not them, a lot of time what my dad would view as a task needing a week, I think if I worked in this speed I would be fired !

Not sure which is better and which is worse but there is a difference. I guess one day we would be old school too.

PS. The photo above is taken by my brother in the near by park a couple of days ago.