There are other people in the world

This is my picture of my week.  If a picture tells 1,000 words, then this is it for me!! 

I was waiting at my bus stop on Monday, when this young, Thai guy arrives on his bicycle to go to a shop.  What does he do?  Get off his bike and park it across the footpath as a barrier to all pedestrian traffic.  He wouldn't have thought of anything other than he wants to go to this shop at the bus stop.  This is so typical of here. 

Every day, Thais walk along and drive and act as if there is no one else in the world.  Some say it is the Buddhist psyche which is so self-absorbing.  No matter what, there are other people in the world and we have to think of them. 

This makes me then think of back home.  Aren't we the same?  Not think of others so often?  Then along comes the Rudd PNG Solution on asylum seekers and the ongoing hype surrounding this issue in Australia.  It is as if Australians have become besotted by this one issue, seeing it as threatening the fabric of their society and so turning their psyche upside down.  It seems that Australia has become self-absorbed in preserving and defending their own little world, not being mindful of others in the world.  It is as if the world stops at Darwin and no Australian has a sense of what reality is like for so many in the world beyond there.  

Have we forgotten that we are connected to each other?  Maybe floundering in our being disconnected, we become more aware of the value of and need for our being connected.   

Meanwhile, Happy Buddhist Lent!  It began on Tuesday and goes for some three months.  It is to be a time for quiet and reflection.   

It's a year!

It's a year this week since mum and dad died.  I had been wondering all last week what to do to give these significant days the due attention they deserved and I needed to give for myself. 

I had given serious consideration to asking Frank, a Marist priest new here on mission from New Zealand, to join me on Monday, mum's anniversary, for mass at my place and then dinner at Nando's.  The Marist mission is in the south and he is presently here in Bangkok studying Thai.  I thought about it hard and decided not to as he is but a new arrival in my life. 

Last Friday then, it struck me to ask Robert.  Why didn't I think of him before?  Robert is a great friend from the cathedral.  So I rang and asked Robert if we could have mass at his place on Friday evening which is the day of dad's anniversary.  He was delighted.  So we could have a quiet and meaningful mass for both mum and dad at the end of an eventful week.  Way to go!

Then on Monday afternoon this week when back in my apartment, I was checking my Facebook and saw Frank's post for the day which included this photo of him around ordination time.  It told me that the same day as mum's first anniversary was his 13th anniversary of ordination.  The same day!  It was uncanny!  I was then so glad that I had not asked him about joining me on Monday for mum as that would have been a dampener on his own day. 

Then it struck me.  Two such events on the same day involving people connected through me speak of our reality and how life moves on, no matter what.  The happy, the sad; life and death - all goes on and as it should.   

Tomorrow is Friday and as I prepare to go to Robert's, I remember that his own mum is 91 and not all at well.  Life does go on and our reality is very much shared. 

It takes many hands.

This week, my life featured Barry and three other Australians coming my way.  The photo shows the other three Australians - three young women from Brisbane here as part of the Presentation Sisters' Cross-cultural Ministry Program.  Barry comes on a regular basis as a volunteer to work with me at BRC (Bangkok Refugee Centre) and then up north to be with Br Anurak on his agricultural leadership project with hill tribe peoples.  The latter is his real love and so that is where he is focusing his energies for now.  This time, he came without his wife, Maria, who helps the incredible Sr Joan Evans pbvm, who lives and works with the poor of Bangkok.  Barry would be in the photo except that he was too shy and my photo skills with my new camera are just too lacking. 

As I hosted my visitors, it struck me that this experience for me was about sharing the mission, the endeavours, the challenges with others, three of whom I had never met before.  I found it energising and humbling that people would go to such lengths to become involved with their fellow human beings, especially in their need. 

It reminds me again that I might be here on my own working away but I am not alone.  All sorts of people come my way here and I work with all sorts of people in different capacities.  I am definitely not alone and neither is there any future in being alone.  No matter how much good you might be doing along the way, being an isolated loner is not the way to go.  It does take many hands to live life and work in mission.  Thank God, they're there for me and with me, and I'm there for and with them.  That's how life chugs along. 

It all looks good

This is what greeted my week following my annual nightmare of dealing with Thai bureaucracy in getting my yearly visa and work permit.  As I was waiting at the front of the cathedral to begin 10 o'clock mass that I saw right in front of me this wonderful display of roses, sitting at the foot of the statue of JPII which stands right outside the cathedral. It was such a delight.  I would name their appearance as my natural turning around point after a stressful previous week. 

The roses here are so beautiful and bountiful and can be used so readily as they are so cheap in Thailand.  So roses, and mountains of them, are often used to adorn the sanctuary of the cathedral.  It is quite a sight. 

Displays of roses at the cathedral speak of life in Thailand where image and presentation are all important.  The presentation may always be 100% but this may not necessarily reflect the reality. 

During the week, I had a discussion with a younger and senior staff member where I work at Caritas Thailand.  I was talking with him about a ceratin, unhealthy managment practice at our workplace.  He responded to my criticism with anger.  I was shocked and was asking myself - Where was this response coming from? 

It came from what he heard and what he heard was not a criticism of a work practice but a criticism of "Thai culutre" as this was happening in Thailand and the criticism was coming from an outsider.  Well, this encounter led to what I hope was an educational discussion on culture. 

I proceeded to share how each culture has good and bad and how no one culture is 100% perfect.  In our coming together, we can learn from each other's culture and we all have a lot to learn.  So there is no need to be defensive.  Rather open our minds to the other and to the bigger picture.  I also sincerely shared that I talked at this level with him as I see great promise in him and he can do so much in life.  As I see it, to move forward he just needs to open up to the other and see other possibilities in life and not be held back by the prison like construct of his own particular culture which they see as needing defending against all comers. 

That is the weakness here of their culture.  They are rightly proud of who they are and what they have but they seem to have the need to defend what the call "Thai culture", seemingly labelling their way as the only way and the perfect way.  This then acts to close them off from learning from others, other cultures and even others' mistakes.  There is something impressive about their stance but it is unwise and counterproductive, as it stops them taking the next step in meeting the other and learning from the outside world. 

We may like to look good but that doesn't tell the whole picture.