Getting through a crisis

My final words of advice to you are educate, agitate and organize.  Have faith in yourself.  With justice on our side, I do not see how we can lose our battle.  The battle to me is a matter of joy.  The battle is in the fullest sense spiritual.  There is nothing material or social in it.  For ours is a battle not for wealth or for power.  It is a battle for freedom.  It is the battle of reclamation of human personality. 
-B.R. Ambedkar 

This week, I share not a photo but a quote.  It comes from a leader of the movement for independence from British colonial rule in India.  I googled him to see that he may not be as well known as Ghandi but that he was every bit a leader of the same movement for freedom.  I have never heard of this fellow and so now I have been introduced to someone else worth knowing in history.  He was a lawyer, economist, historian, politician, social activist for his people and man of religion.  He stood up for the rights of the underclasses of India.  He was quite a man. 

I came across him in a friend's posting on her Facebook as she was contemplating how can we get Thailand through its crisis.  How can any of us get through crises we face in life?  This same friend lives in Bangkok and she helped me get across the line this week as I faced my crisis at the work place at Caritas.  She said something that hit me and made sense, allowing me to move on.

Moving on is what we need to do in life.  Face up to what it is that is holding us back and then rise up again with renewed energy to meet life's reality and challenges.  That was my experience of this week and it came through a friend with whom I had shared my load.  I am sure there is a message enough here for the week. 

What happens for good at the micro level can be applied to the macro level and the same principles can help a society move on and face up to its challenges instead staying stuck in non-negotiation, stubbornness and self-interest.

Is all uinder control?

A government response to flooding in the UK

I always say that control is not one of my strengths.  I am no good at control and neither believe that it works nor that should it be pursued.  I can't control anyone, even myself.  So why try?  I faced this during my week in two quarters. 

One was at my workplace at Caritas Thailand where I am named as the Director of the National Catholic Commission on Migration (NCCM).  Actually, my title is Executive Director.  Wuaint!  I can't bring myself to use the first word of that title as it sounds too hierarchical.  So I just say that I am the Director.  Am I?  I ask that seriously and in a healthy way as I am aware what goes on amongst the troops, for you never really know what is going on around you and what the true agenda is at hand.  This week, there was a huge issue for me that I had to face.  It was an issue that I would name as a betrayal of trust by one of the staff.  It was a serious issue that needed to be resolved.  As the meeting to deal with this of the program management team began, I very clearly shared two words in Thai, stating that this was not about my trying to control others or operations but to manage for the sake of good order and proper process.  As we went through our discussion on the program's management, I discovered that some of the staff had already met and decided matters but never told anyone else.  This lack of communication and thinking that they could operate independently of the rest of the wider team was crucial in creating upset and misunderstanding but those involved could not see this and only acted surprised and hurt when I told them this was not good practice in management. 

The other was on the streets of Bangkok.  These protests continue.  They seem to be going nowhere with the country in a political stalemate or lockdown.  Is this really about the struggle for democracy and stopping corruption or is it the struggle for power by vested interests who are very wealthy and powerful, overcome by their own self-interests?  The reality is that, despite all, life goes on.  Bangkok keeps moving and breathing every day.  You just go around the protest sites.  What they do achieve is traffic chaos and a life that is a little bit more of a struggle as you try to manage a more difficult Bangkok as you try to get around.  You do get to where you want.  It just may take a little longer

There's that word again.  I can't control my Bangkok but I can mange it in some way.  I can't control my workplace and its chaos but I can aim to manage it and work for order.  For me, this reflects the reality of my life.  I can't control it.  I am not in charge. Someone else is - God.  I can't forget that.  I am part of a huge jigsaw called life which can all change in 24 hours.  I can't control it but I can mange it.  As I say more and more these days, I just do what I can with what I've got.  I can't do anymore than that.   

All looks rosy

This is the picture that greets you as you enter the Bangkok Refugee Centre, a colourful and thriving garden.  It is a lovely welcome space into a facility that is fast taking on more and more the look of a refugee camp with so many Palestinians from Syria, Pakistanis and others just hanging out there each day.  Each family is another story of misery in their escape from war and terror and their search for hope.

Today is Valentine's Day - a huge day in Thailand.  They sell roses galore, 'lovers' go out, many buy gifts.  It is also a Buddhist holiday.  So you would think that the place is full of Buddhist peace and human love but not so.  The endless protest continues.  The ridiculous political games continue as all fight corruption, while all sides are corrupt; as all proclaim democracy but so many have hidden agendas; as all want to take power and govern but each side has failed dismally when they had their chance.  The political egos grow and no one can lead the country in a way forward. 

All looks rosy but it isn't.  The rosiness hides a harsh reality.  That has been true of my own particular work scene this week.  As I struggle to manage part of Caritas and create good order, I learn that one person I had faith in and fought for has betrayed my trust.  I was shocked and disappointed on learning this.  That is my first response.  My continued aim remains good management and so my resolve is to follow what needs to be followed through good process and good management. 

We can't be ruled by false pictures that show a rosy present and promise an even rosier future.  Rather we have to deal with what is and do what we can to make our response.  We can't solve life's problems or make life perfect.  We just do what we can and make our contribution. 

Where have all the leaders gone?

I am walking down my local main street this week and I come across this sight - an army bunker with two armed soldiers.  In the same street is a major protest site as well as my local shops and a now new, thriving street market, thanks to the coming of the protestors.  What is strange about coming across this bunker is that it is so small and so far away from the site of action.  It looks so ineffective.  I just ask myself what good it serves. 

I would ask the same question about the protests and the political game plans of both sides in this present ongoing political turmoil in Thailand.  What good is it serving?  I would suspect that the real question to be asked is another.  Whose good is this serving? 

After all, everyone here seems to be corrupt and no one is offering up front and needed leadership.  I can't see how this is about democracy when one side wants to install an appointed elite to govern the ungovernable, as they would name the masses.  I can't see how this is about leading to good governance when neither political side has acted responsibly in the past when in the last parliament to produce good and strong reform.  Their very institutions of government are weak and open to huge corruption.  So where is all this political upheaval leading?  Like the military bunker in my main street, it all seems so ineffective. 

A good and respected friend here communicated with me this week in an email on this topic when we conversing about another issue. He is in his early 60s and in development work here from the USA.  I just share what he sent me.  It is just worth sharing as it is and I make no comment, except that, yes, leadership is ours. 
"Global leadership has been bankrupt my whole life.  So much war and suffering.  So much invested in the sciences of destruction.  So little effort to improve humankind.
I shall continue to be God's tool for as long as God shall have me.  That is all I can do.  Forget the leadership.  You and I are the leaders.  The rest is ego trips."

You might question in part what my friend shares but take what you may question as a sharing that comes out of the lived experience of a Thailand and a Southeast Asia full of mystery and questions, anomalies and contradictions, a part of the world that is alive and vibrant and so seductive.