The real meaning of development

One thing I'll miss when I return to Jamaica is the ease with which I can find past time activities in Japan. There's always something interesting going on, and I don't mean a party or a tv show. I can simply walk to a park and stumble  upon a festival or turn a corner and stumble into a museum or walk into a glass atelier with 5 minute classes. I can go to a coffee shop, study, watch YouTube, scroll through Facebook or talk to real people. I can take a stroll up the mountain or take a cable car instead.

"The developed country is not one in which the poor has cars.
It is where the rich uses public transportation."

These simple pleasures have become normal activities that are accessible to even a pauper like me. This is one of the marks of development - when people with the lowest income can enjoy the same things in life as the rich. A friend shared a quote with me recently that said a country is developed not when the poor can buy cars, but when the rich uses public transportation. This made a lot of sense. Of course, the rich will still have nicer things, they will have bigger houses and luxury cars, but they will go to the same museums, parks, ateliers, light shows, festivals and ride in the same trains and buses. Why? Wealth distribution and infrastructural development are key to real development. With wealth distribution, the poor is not really poor and with infrastructure development, public transport becomes more efficient and desirable than private transport.