Christmas

I thought about it hard last night and decided it was time to get rid of some of those highlighted photos on my blog showing the phsyical results of political strife in Thailand. It is time to move one. Still I did leave one photo as a symbol that the troubles, the unrest, the issues are not yet resolved. 2011 will see ongoing political and social turmoil in a society that is experiencing rapid change and its effects for better or worse in a globalised world.

For now, it is Christmas and it is time to highlight the season. Even at Christmas, the paradoxes of our life continue, or maybe they are just highlighted even more due to the nature of the season. I mean - Bangkok may have a singing tree but Abu Dhabi has a $US11million, diamond tree. How gross!

Well, my two photos of Christmas highlight the paradoxes of my life. One shows the bright lights of Bangkok at Christmas. The other features our Vietnamese Santa at the Bangkok Refugee Centre striving to share a bit of joy with the children of urban refugee families in Bangkok. Life for them is hard. It is even harder at the moment as many of them are the victims of a current police crackdown on the urban refugee population within the city. One wonders why. Not all the reasons are due to the wish to uphold law and its due process. It is Christmas. Only if we could let everyone know what the season is really about, and not just through bright lights and those flippant, good humoured songs we all know for this time of the year.

Happy Christmas!!!!

It's Christmas

I may be in Thailand but it is still Christmas. Thais, being Buddhist, might not understand what Christmas is all about but they still love the music, the lights, the decorations, the shopping. They actually have some of the best Christmas trees and snowmen I have evr seen. It is quite bizarre, listening to "I'm Dreaming of a White Christmas", when you are sweltering in a tropical heat.

Actually, I am just back from Rome and Spain where I went for some work and a meeting. It all makes a bit more sense in that sort of climate and environment. Then it makes me ask the old question - What is the meaning of Christmas? My answer is a little and simple story I have from my time in Spain.

In Spain, I stayed for a couple of nights in the convent of a group of Augustinian nuns. They were most gracious and very friendly. As I left, the Sister who looked after my meals came and gave me one of her handkerchiefs. She explained that she wanted to give me something but had nothing to give except this handkerchief which was marked with her laundry number. The number named the hankie as hers. I was just so touched and just accepted it with a little tear in my eye. Sister, that what giving is all about.

I now carry that hankie with me in my pocket as my reminder of what Christmas is all about. Sister and the hankie say it all.