Christmas is full of surprises

I just love Christmas.  It is a wonderful time of year.  That is me and I am sticking to it despite all flack that I might receive from Christmas skeptics who tend to get it all wrong because they are stuck in the snares of capitalism of other -isms which I could name as materialism and individualism.  Their other mistake is to simply assume the reason why I love Christmas.  My love for Christmas is definitely not defined by the -isms prevailing in our society.  It is more defined by who we are or better put as who we could be in line with God's vision for us through creation.  It is about giving a chance to being the truly good people we are called to be by a God who believes in us.  

Never fail to be surprised at Christmas, I say.

As always, what has made my Christmas has not been the gifts or cheques that may have been received but rather the touching and special stories that have come to me from friends as they simply strive to get on with life, while trying to add a bit of extra cheer at this time of year.  

One friend is alone these days following a divorce.  She doesn't just stay alone but chooses to share her Christmas and her home with refugee families that she helps during the year, complete with a game of back yard cricket after lunch.

Another friend has me praying for his good friend who is very sick.  When I hear that this guy may not make it to Christmas, I send a simple message of assuring him of my prayers.  In return, I am sent a touching photo of the guy waving from his sick bed, being helped in a very caring way by his partner to sit up and wave at me.

These two stories have made my Christmas.  This is what Christmas is about.

Happy Christmas.  Ho! Ho! Ho!

What is missing?

This local scene looks so bare.  I feel so sad each day as I go past this spot just around the corner from where I live.  Why is this so?  What is happening?

You see, by this time of year, this building has placed in front of it a whole fabulous Christmas world with a huge tree, music, lights and much more.  It is full of colour and atmosphere and enjoyment.  Not so this year as there is nothing.  It is just bare space.  However, I understand and respect why.  It is because Thailand is mourning the loss of their beloved King and so no Christmas joy in the public sphere here this year.

Still, no matter what, Christmas does come.  Nothing can stop Christmas.  Well, at least on the inside. 

So my humble little tree with its decrations and lights has gone up as usual as Christmas will be celebrated no matter what - at least in the private sphere for me for this year in Thailand.  I even got a new set of lights which are so inexpensive but yet so wonderful with their colour and their flashing on and off in a varied routine.  Then there is is my Santa bag.  I love it.  It all transforms my apartment, adding a bit of extra colour and joy to my life and to those who come my way.   It is all so simple but so important for me as it adds to life and helps to bring forth a spirit of goodwill. 

I only ask - Why isn't it like this all year?  Why just Christmas?  This special time of Christmas has a message for the rest of the year.  Joy and good will to all. 

Ho! Ho! Ho!

Guess where I have been?

Pictures tell the story. 

What a great place and full of such friendly people. 

Nothing like a bit of colour

Nothing like a bit of colour, I say, to add to your day.  I must say that this photo that came my way must be the photo of the month.  It shows an African Anglican bishop going about his daily business with visiting politicians, dressed in full robes. as one would.

I must say that what attracted me to this photo was the ridiculousness of the dress.  It actually appeals to my sense of humour.  Personally, I would never be caught dead in such gear. 

Behind the ridiculousness, I see a more serious message.  I would offer that a coping mechanism in today's stressful world is to add colour to our day.  Amidst all around IS, Brexit and a future Trump presidency, there is a need to keep a prespective and a sense of humour, a sense of the ridiculous helps that. 

No matter what, life goes on and we need to live it and enjoy it as best we can.  After all, we only live once, or that is what I believe.  So make the most of it.  Face the challenges, fight the worthy cause for good, look after each other but always keep before us the goal to live life to the full and enjoy the journey.  Never let any cause or any struggle take that away from us. 

A leader in this philosophy of life must be the present Archbishop of Chicago who as a Chicago Cubs supporter made a bet with the Archbishop of Cleveland over who would win the World Series.  The Cubs won and the Archbishop of Cleveland came good on the bet providing Cleveland style food for 100 served by the Archbishop's food programme.  It looked like good fun and all for a good cause.  Archbishops serving pizza to the poor and the Archbishop of Chicago had a Cubs baseball cap for the Pope as well.  Way to go. 

Carpe diem!

A New Chapter in Life

In speaking to prisoners this week at a mass at St Peter's, Pope Francis said:
"By learning from past mistakes, you can open a new chapter of your lives."
Never lose hope was the message.
This would seem a timely statement in our world, and not just for prisoners. 

I say this on the week that sees both the US election and celebrations closing the Holy Year of Mercy. 

The US election needs no introduction.  Many of my friends - American, Australian, English, Irish, Thai, Burmese - were all following the election count with great interest or disbelief.  Whoever wins, this would seem to be a watershed election due to the nastiness of the campaign and all the negative themes that it has opened up in the public forum.  I see this as touching upon reality and reality can be frightening.  As a good American friend tells me, the new norm in our world is chaos.

Well, Trump won and my American friends who are good western liberals like me are sharing common post-Trump victory symptoms- nausea, depression, sadness.  We are in shock mode.  One may reassess that this was an inevitable outcome sooner or later.  Looking beyond shock, the harshness of a divided and chaotic reality is hitting us in the face.  The message is to do something about it and not just keep doing the same thing, following the same old track.  As when we were doing pastoral planning as a Province, the guiding principle was to act to choose our future or else our future would be determined for us and grab us whether we liked it or not.  We might not have done so well at choosing our future but we tried and we did our best at the time.     

In contrast, this past year in the Catholic Church there has been seen a calming effect within a chaotic world with a Jubilee Year celebrating a God of mercy and compassion.  The Church has its own chaos with too often the God being presented into our lives and world by institutional religion being the God of control and judgement.  This is not the God of the Jesus of the Gospels but the God of man brought out to tell us what to do and if we don't do it, watch out.  Primarily, while we know our basic human instincts and where they can lead, the Gospels keep presenting us a God who offers us life and opportunity for true greatness and happiness through ever being a God with us, a God offering us mercy an compassion.  We are being offered so much more than what our basic instincts can ever imagine. 

As Obama said, whatever the election outcome. a new day would dawn and it has.  With a new day comes yet another opportunity to open a new chapter in life. 

Guess who came to greet me in Rome?

Pope francis in the audience hall of the Apostolic Palace in the Vtaican. 

Last week, I was in Rome for a conference of the Santa Marta Group  which is a Church group aiming to stamp out human trafficking.  Well, there I was in the Vatican for this most worthwhile cause and guess who came to say "Hello!"? 

Pope Francis, my hero, no less. 

My story is to simply say that he may be short but what a big man.  He is such a gentleman with a real concern for people. 

He came to greet the conference and show his solidarity on the issue, an issue close to his heart.  After his speech, he greeted each of us personally which was his personal request despite his minders saying that he should only meet a representative number from the conference.  A busy and important man with a strenuous schedule at the age of nearly 80, simply demanded that he meet personally each of the delegates.  So up I went with everyone else and whether he understood me or not, simply shared that I pray for him and thank him.   

A simple and generous gesture on the part of the Pope says it all - never too important and never too busy to show solidarity and kindenss to others.   

A week with a difference

What a shot!  Or so I thought.  This was the shot of my week.  I posted it on Facebook with other shots, highlighting my Sunday with a difference at the cathedral for this was the Sunday directly following the King of Thailand's death.  So, on this Sunday, the faithful gathered with their cardinal to offer mass and prayers for their beloved King and father of the nation who had died only the Thursday before.   

While there was so much around me on the day - pomp and circumstance, a cardinal and clergy in their finery, many people thronging, all sorts of activity, including media - it was this simple, somewhat obtuse scene that really caught my eye.  What does it show, one may ask?  It is what the servers at mass came up with to keep the flame going at full blast for the fire used to heat the coals that were to ignite the incense.

What was it that struck me? 
Smart but simple, I say.  It was not an every day sight.  Rather it was a shot of basic reality within so much other worldly happenings.   It was a way of being practical and creative within a formal ecclesiastical setting.  While there is a great love here for ceremony and hierarchy, this shows that everyday realities still have to be met no matter what.  This is a down to earth, hands on initiative in the midst of all the other. 

Ones may be caught up in highly sacred activity and in heart wrenching life events but they have to remain rooted on the ground.  That is life.  Whatever is happening around us, whatever the chaos, whatever the nature of the life event being played out, life has to remain rooted and in touch with reality so that life goes on.  This one shot highlighted this for me a week within a week with a difference following the death of the King     

Where does all the garbage go?

The garbos working hard early in the morning opposite my bus stop.

Every day early, while still dark, the garbage collectors are out on the streets of my Bangkok collecting the garbage waiting for their attention.  Not once a week but every day and every day there is a huge amount of garbage to be cared for.  My question is -
Where does all the gabage go? 

I am this week at a conference on human rights in SEAsia.  Mary Robinson, a former President of Ireland and member of the Elders group, was quoted as saying that climate change will be the great human rights issue of this century.  Where does it all begin?  Right in my street as I wonder where all the garbage goes, I ask this question as I see the aftermath of our daily existence.  How our lives must impact our world for the worse when we show a lack of interest or respect in how we handle our garbage.   

As I look from my bus stop and see the amount left on the street by just my local market, I am gobsmacked at the amount sitting before me.  Then I think how much more there must be throughout all Bangkok and this is just for one day.  It is mind boggling. 

It makes me think - not only must we respect creation, we must respect our garbage and those who collect it each day. 

But the question remains.  Where does all the garbage go?  It is definitely moved from my little area of the world but does deal with it or mean anything ultimately? 

Have you ever seen the rain?

On Sunday afternoon, I experienced the biggest storm that I can ever remember.  The rain was falling like one big sheet, while the thunder was coming from right above us and it was loud.  It was incredible.

What came to mind was the classic Creedence Clearwater Revival song - Have You Ever Seen the Rain?  Well, I sure did on Sunday and it just keeps coming every day - a storm a day. 

Of course, this amount of rain causes its own havoc in a big city, and especially a city built on a river plain.   The rain comes and the streets flood and the traffic builds up and so the chain of events goes.  Chaos reigns. 

Bangkok was once the Venice of the East with refreshing canals rather than a plethora of roads as the main means of travel, with beautiful, green trees rather than concrete buildings, with boats rather than cars.  With development, it is now roads and high rise everywhere, with traffic and the utter lack of green.  The canals still exist but they are covered or surrounded by roads and become waterways for waste and worse.  Sad what development can create. 

The storms bring out what is worst about a Bangkok - dirty floodwater, floating rubbish, heavy traffic and chaos.  Yet what I see is that this bustling and crowded city of at least 12 million keeps pumping out life.  No matter what, life goes on. 

I remember last week my father and his 100th anniversary of his birth.  That was my focus; that was and is important but this is another week and life goes on and it must.  It goes on with all its themes and sub-themes; with its ups and downs; its joys and successes; its trials and tribulations.  Rain might get you wet but it sure doesn't dampen the spirit. 

Here comes another storm. 

100 Years

In the coming week, if my father was still alive, he would be turning 100.  He would have loved celebrating his 100th birthday with all the attention, his photo in the local paper and, of course, the telegram from the Queen.  You nearly got there, dad, but not quite.  It was just not to be. Sorry but this was of someone else's making and you are now in a better place.  

Turning 100 is not everything and if you ask me, mum and dad lived long enough, if not just a little too long, and it was time to go.  Of course, the decision is not mine to make but this is my opinion on the matter.

Living away from home for 11 years now, I tend to lose touch with what is happening there.  What has attracted my attention lately is that, in Australia, more and more interest is being shown in the issue of euthanasia.  I do not understand why or where the impetus for this is coming from.  I do not judge that I am just showing my age or Catholicism when I share that I find this social trend a real worry.  Taking the ultimate decision away from God and just thinking we can give it to ourselves in such an absolute and public way through legislation strikes me as a dangerous stance on the part of human society.  What really worries me is where all this could ultimately lead. 

One could look at other related life issues - death penalty, nuclear arms and chemical weapons, abortion.  They are all on the agenda and active in our world.  I am no moralistic radical but I do not hold as a basic stance that we have the right to proactively take away life.  Cardinal Bernardin of Chicago had the right idea when he presented the seamless garment image for dealing with a life ethic.  Basically, all life issues are related and when you give way on one, you give way on the others.  They are all interconnected.

I judge that where Church has lost the debate is that it has presented itself as being too moralising, too self-righteous when dealing with ethical issues in any society.  The institutional Church too easily and too simply presents the absolute without acknowledging that life for everyday people is not black and white but rather life takes people into grey areas where they have to make hard choices.  My theory is that if the Church continues along the path of presenting as an absolute ruler in society, it will lose the opportunity to engage with those who do not share its views.  Therein lies a great danger.
  
Back to being 100.  Turning 100 is not everything but such a milestone makes one reflect on life and what it all means.  Thanks dad for making me think a little deeper than usual.  As for the this week's photo, you may ask?  It appears at the head of the blog where dad and mum have star billing.

Such a Studious Lot

It is 7.30pm Sunday.  While walking then with Om through Bangkok's Lumpini Park for some exercise, we came across all these people sitting and acting intently as if they were studying for an exam.  Then Om tells me to his amazement and joy that they all, like him, are playing Pokemon.

Pokemon has stormed this country. Before mass on Sunday, all the servers - adult and child - are in the sacristy playing Pokemon. I jokingly made an announcement as mass started that no one was to play during mass.

What I gather is that this is a social game as it is more fun when you connect with others along the way also playing so that you can destroy their monsters.  Interesting! It may be more social but I see this whole new craze adding to the contemporary phenomenon of the smartphone where people are just nearly entranced by what they are holding in their hands, losing all contact with the social world around them.  In the very age when social communication should be enhanced by all the technology at our fingertips, what I am seeing is growing social isolation.

People go to the park with friends but they don't talk while walking but overcome by silence while playing games.  People go out to dinner for a social experience but they are busy taking photos and using Facebook to tell the world about their dinner while avoiding talking with those at table with them.  This is part of our times.

We have such great opportunities available to us for learning and communicating but seemingly we are becoming addicted to what could be our greatest tool for public advancement for any reason but quenching our thirst for knowledge.  What I am seeing is a social phenomenon of great import.  It is amazing to see the immediate impact but who knows what the ultimate result will be.

Let's See It All in Persepective

I saw this cartoon on Facebook and it just immediately grabbed me.  I love it and have to share it.  In its own way, it is so Buddhist as I understand Buddhism,saying so much in such a simple way.

Yes,we can take our world and its concerns and woes far too seriously.  This cartoon is a timely reminder in a world that can become too serious and too preoccupied with its own importance. 

I have a friend here who has a senior and important role in the Church.  He is a great guy and a great host.  He loves to talk and be with people.  He is a real people person, as they say.  A hardship he faces and shares so readily in conversation is his boss whom he finds so difficult as unlike my friend he lacks some of the finer things of life, like generosity and hospitality, and is all about work.  I find myself at times overcome by my friend's descriptions of what he experiences with his boss.  I recognize that I have to keep reminding myself not to get caught up in this negative trap about which I can do nothing.  So I tell myself - just stand back, listen and enjoy my friend's companionship.

In my life, I have ones - individuals and organizations - who seem to have an immense and generous appreciation of their role and importance in the world.  It would seem that the world, or their world, depends on them and what they do.  It would seem that their world is so important that it is more important than anyone else's.    

In Church, I believe we call this is a Messiah complex.  Truth is that we are already saved and that there is only one Saviour.  There is no need for anybody else to stand in and do the job.  In the business world, I think that this is covered by the slogan that no one is indispensable.  

We can be so driven, so overcome by a sense of importance in life that we miss out on the bigger picture.  No one, no organization is so important that the world rises or falls on their level of performance or contribution.  We are but here for a little while.  Organizations and powers come and go in history.  We all have our contribution to make but but it is better made in easy mode.  Let's just see it all in perspective and keep a realistic sense of who we are and what we are about on this earth.

As a good friend here says and as St Augustine reminds us, it is all about having a healthy dose of humility.

For flock's sake

I hope they're still awake

The world's Catholic clergy have been advised by a Vatican archbishop to keep their homilies to eight minutes.  Good advice!  I shared this with a friend back home.  After last Sunday's vigil mass, my friend emailed me about what happened during the mass.  A parishioner beside her whispered in her ear as Father was sprucking on to say:
"I wish he would shut up as I want to go home." 
This was during the final story being given by Father at the end of mass which had already featured a 15 minute homily. 

I shared this story at mass next morning at the cathedral and they laughed.  I then shared it with a Thai priest I know quite well on Tuesday and he replied:
"That is strong language."  He did not laugh.

His response took me aback as he may be Thai but he is a Thai with a difference, being an international and very sophisticated personality. This told me that maybe those who laughed at the cathedral may have been only the foreigners while the Thais may not have understood nor seen the humour at all.  What I saw as funny in this simple story could quite easily be offensive to a Thai ear, or maybe to an Asian or ASEAN ear.

In this same week, we have had the news story of the Philippines President offending Obama with his public insult.  This is offensive behaviour but I discover through watching the news from Singapore that this is doubly offensive in ASEAN circles where leaders all bend over backwards to be ever so polite.  Duterte was not only rude and insulting but had broken a basic protocol of his own region, shocking his own peers with his yet another public outburst.

My response to the priest was that this is very Australian.  This does not mean that no one in this part of the world ever gets upset, angry or offends another.  They do.  It just is that they work so hard to keep a good front which is what is all important to them. Yes, they too can be harsh and cynical and somewhat comical about it all but what matters is front.

A little bit of green helps

The view from my hotle balcony in central Yangon

I

I was just in Yangon this week for three days and when asked on leaving by an Australian friend in Bangkok for my impressions of the place, I shared that
"I was impressed by the friendly people, wonderful temples, good shopping, cheap food, good beer and its quaint historical setting."

I found my short time in Yangon, even if for meetings and work, to be refreshing.  It was because of all that I just shared but much more.  There was one central life giving aspect to the whole positive experience that I left out of my list that I shared with my Aussie friend.  It was the green of the place.  After a Bangkok with all its concrete structures and massive buildings, the green hits you in the face and is simply a breath of fresh air. 

Yes, Yangon has suffered from a lack of investment over the years due to bad military rule.  Yes, it is somewhat shabby looking and lacking in infrastructure.  Yet it still has so much to offer.  It has a quaintness due to its history and it has its own beauty that you would never want to lose.  It definitely has not suffered from over or bad development as yet.  Hopefully, it never will. 

Yangon with all its lovely parks and lakes and many trees is a picture of green.  It is this little bit of green that stays with me as a lasting impression of Yangon today, even if somewhat congested and in the midst of great development projects.  It is this green that gave me life.  I loved it.  What more can I say?  

Go in Reverse

Christianity, if it is based on the gospel, is meant to turn everything around but so often I sadly just do not see that happening.  Rather what I see in my world is how institutional Church and its leadership so often simply conform with the ways of the world for the sake of the status quo and doing its business.  That is why Pope Francis is such an outstanding and refreshing character in the Catholic Church.  He wants to turn it all round and have the Church stand on its head.  How exciting!  They actually have a term in theology which covers this - "reverse mission".

I follow the Philippines under President Duterte.  The country is full of lovely and talented people and just picturesque, tropical paradise sites.  It should be a prosperous nation but rather I see a society being continually brutalized under the forces of poverty and violence, while now this society is seemingly becoming even more brutal under their new president.  I ask, where is the Church in all this in a country that is so Catholic?  Turning it around?

For the last while, the institution has been sitting at the top over society, telling its people what to do in their lives and focusing too much on the personal over the social issues.  I judge this is a fair comment for an outsider to make.  In doing so, the Church has been presenting itself as a power institution doing battle with its political foes to maintain the status quo and uphold its own position.  Thus it comes to be seen as a powerful and vested interest, a power broker in society, siding with its own among the rich and powerful.  No reverse mission here in this scenario with the result that the opportunity for a whole new and needed order that caters for all in a society where so many miss out is lost.

Going in reverse, we look from the bottom up instead of the top down and we share the power among all not keeping it in the hands of the few who are meant to act for the masses but never do.  Such we live life in unexpected ways, even incorrect ways in the hope of turning it all round on its head for the sake of the common good of all.  Isn't that different?  Isn't that living life in reverse?  Isn't that life giving?

It's as easy as ABC

There was a Jackson Five song way back when called ABC.  It spoke of love as being as easy as ABC, 123, do re mee.  Simple, huh?

Well I was at a conference this week on faith communities and development where I was introduced to a Lutheran Church document dealing with Church in the public sphere.  Its simple formula like the Jackson Five song was that Church engagement with our world is as easy as ABCDE.
Assessing public issues in participatory ways.
Building relationships of trust.
Challenging injustice,
Discovering signs of hope.
Empowering people in need.

Now there is a simple formula for being people of faith in our world.

Wherever you go

Dormition Theotokos

In Thailand, two days celebrating womanhood come together over the next few days- the Queen's Birthday on 12 August and the Assumption of Mary on 15 August.  Both present an ideal for humanity coming from lived reality, and lived reality can sometimes be harsh as I was reminded this past week. 

You see I was asked in my duties to proof read a statement given in a local Church abuse case.  Yes, I only had to reword the English so that the report could be presented in an acceptable way to the proper authorities.  A simple task it would seem but a task that I found had an unplanned and incredible impact on me.  After reading the report, I felt dirty.  It is hard to explain but that was the feeling.  I then also felt the strong urge to clean myself and so I found myself naturally going to the chapel to get clean.  It was an experience that happened within a simple chain of events but it was also a strong and eerie experience.  What was it about this experience? 

Some of the description was quite vivid and upsetting, even revolting.  It showed how evil can co-exist with good in any person's life. I do not want to dwell on this but I do wish to acknowledge that the experience was very real for me and it made me think about life, humanity, good and evil, about me.

Within the context of this one week, I am experiencing how we can act so horribly towards each other but also know that, alongside such harsh realities, there ever remain the ideal and the hope of humanity with our purpose and quest for good ever alive.  We do live in the midst of strong forces for good and evil.  We do live within a paradox that is life but ultimately what is good is the way we choose and go.  We follow the way of those before us, knowing that where Mary has been and gone, there we also shall go and be, and we believe this with hope beyond hope.

Take time to smell the roses

My Monday to Friday routine is to get to my desk early and start working.  I do this to reach where I am going before the traffic becomes unbearable and to allow myself the luxury to finish early - or so this is my rationale.  What this has seemed to have created is a regime of a work routine that is quite unhealthy. 

As I sit at my NCCM desk in Yannawa early Tuesday morning, I look out on my view of Bangkok.  It is quite something but what I notice is that it is all buildings, roads and concrete with so little green.  It might have its own beauty or appeal but restful it is not.  Does this reflect my life in Bangkok? 

They say to take time to smell the roses but where are they or what are they in my life in Bangkok?  I do not see any roses out there as I look around my urban mish-mash as you can see from my photo. 

So where do I go to find my roses?  This is an important question that I realize now I must face for the sake of the holiness of my own life.  This question could lead me down many tracks:
-have a different, more life giving attitude towards every day?
-purposely spend more time relating with significant others in my life?
-go for that walk, take the needed nap or enjoy the important time-out I keep promising myself?
-take that walk or see a movie?
Maybe it is just a mix of all of these plus much more.

What I did do was that on Wednesday I escaped my work place and went to see some good friends, fellow missionaries here, have a chat, then share a soup with Nando, my Italian friend, followed by a nap.  I didn't get in the walk as it started to rain.  Still what was most important was that I tried and I enjoyed.  The walk is later today.

It is important to smell the roses.  We just need to find our own roses and smell them in our own way.  Life is too valuable not to.            

My Bangkok from my NCCM desk.

Death by electrocution

Phlai Singthong, the 24yo elephant, lies dead. 
 

One of Tuesday's leading stories in Thailand was the death of Phlai Singthong, the 24 year old elephant. He was happily eating bamboo when he accidentally grabbed hold of a high voltage power line and that was the end of him.  It is a sad end. 

Thais have a great love and respect for elephants and whenever one dies through misfortune it is a big story.  Reading the story tickled my fancy, as we say back home, as with all the tragedies and disasters in our world, this simple but sad tale still attracts the attention of the media and the people in a Thailand. 

Then I think - what is it that makes the news and how and why? 

In a world surrounded by the Syrias, shootings and bombings, and the bad politicians, it gives one a soothing moment of relief to read about the death of a loved elephant.  But then in the same week in the same part of the world, Cardinal Bo of Yangon gave an incredibly challenging and blunt message about the plight of refugees, displaced persons and migrant workers from his country floundering at home and in Thailand.  Yet where is that story?  There is no sign of it anywhere here.  What did he say?  Here is a sample. 

On Migrant Workers:
Fishing slaves "are made orphans by an inhuman system. ... They have become the slaves of South east Asia.  I urge the government to become their parents and bring them home.  They are not orphans."

On Camp Refugees: 
"The camp conditions are abominable. ... They are black holes of despair sucking our people into a bottomless pit of despair and inhumanity.  These are children forgotten by Mother Myanmar.  I urge the governments of Myanmar and Thailand and the UN to accelerate the process of safe return."

So he goes on.  He may not have gotten into the news here but Cardinal Bo I am surely doing my bit to see that your message is heard by as many as possible. 

Thanks again!

This has been yet another short week.  Today is Thursday and this is our first working day of the week.  Reason is that Tuesday and Wednesday were Buddhist holy days and then the military government declared Monday as an extra holiday to make a five day weekend.  This happens so often now, with the government declaring an extra holiday when able so as to make an extra long weekend.

Military governments, I discover, are great for holidays.  It is a real gift they have.  To be honest, I think this holiday thing is being overdone but I can't do anything about it.  So just smile and accept the gift. 

Meanwhile, yesterday was a holy day in the Buddhuist calendar as it was the first day of Buddhist Lent which coincides with the rainy season.  Actually it is pretty smart to coincide Lent with the rainy season as this fits in well with the annual farming calendar.  While Thailand may appear these days to be an industrial and tourist based economy, it is traditionally an agriculture based economy and society, with agriculture still playing an important role in Thai society and economy. 

During rainy season, the rice crops are growing.  While during Lent, monks are to stay in their monastery confines.  The smartness is that with monks staying in their monasteries, they are not going to be walking through rice fields inadvertently spoiling crops.   Now I think that smart and practical, if nothing else. 

The Big Picture

This week's entry carries on from last week.  So there is no need for new picture.  I could say that this week carries on or better that this week presents the other side.

The other side focuses on the Thai psyche. I remember in my early days here attending a lecture for foreign teachers in Catholic schools on understanding Thais.  It was given by a Thai psychologist with a PHD from the USA.  His main point was based on his own research which he did on the Thai psyche.  His research showed the limitations of the Thai mind. 

Basically, what he discovered was that your average Thai is less able to cope with new, unexpected and different ideas.   He named their psyche as being quite rigid in comparison to the average western psyche which is much more flexible.  This makes it more difficult for Thais to deal on the spot with new ideas, foreign territory and other ways of acting. When they hear something new or something unexpected or something they do not want to hear, they just cannot cope and their way of handling it is to react, by shutting down and maybe in an angry way. 

I see this time and again living here.  When you talk honestly and openly and it is not what they want to hear or when you present a different approach or new way of acting, you can see the 'closing down' or 'turning off' reaction in their face. What you see is fear or anger or just an automatic and frozen reaction to the unwanted.  So you just stand back and let them be, givng them time to deal with the unknown or unexpected or unwanted. 

This is the other side. It is not always about culture and how ones are nurtured in their society.  It is also about who we are and how we are made.  Such basic life factors determine how we cope and what we can cope with in our day.

Truth seems to be that the big picture is not in a Thai's daily agenda.  That is the way it is.  It is not part of who they are.  Still this does not mean that it is impossible for them to take in the big picture.  You just have to present it so that they can take it in on their terms.  So let them get angry if they need to but then give them time to digest and come up with their own response.  They can do it eventually. 

Selling Thailand

Thai culture is always the big playing card in Thailand.  It seems to rule everything and everyone for better or worse.  We all have our culture and culture is important to us all but I have never lived in any place where culture has such a huge part to play in daily life and in the politics of running the country.

A new tourism campaign has been launched by the Tourism Authority of Thailand, named "Discover Thainess".  Well, what is Thainess, one may ask?  For this campaign, Thainess is defined by the young, attractive and gracious Thai female dressed in traditional dress, peacefully meditating.  This is their chosen definition of Thai culture.  Interesting!!

Living here, I am immersed in Thai culture and I have to say that it is a mixed bag.  It is not all gracefulness and smiles and beauty.  Having said that, this is okay as this is the same for all cultures, with each having its good and not so good sides.  The issue here is that their culture is idealized or nearly deified and I ask why and by whom for I see this as a rather dangerous path to follow in any society.  Still this happens for a purpose.

The everyday reality here is that beyond the graceful greetings and kind ways, there is a ruthlessness and a level of anger.  It is hidden but it is there ready to raise its head when judged needed.  One can accept that this is only being human and to be expected.  The shock here is that you are led to believe as an outsider that none of this exists in Thailand but it sure does, I can assure you.  It is just lying under the surface, coming out at select times and in select ways.

I experienced this rising up of the dark side in the work place on Monday.  I needed to act responsibly in my leadership role by presenting issues to the staff.  I did not go in innocently.  I did expect a backlash and I sure got it.  Having been here so long and knowing them so well, I was seeing all the undercurrents at play, all the issues that really mattered to them coming to the fore.  These included:
-protection of one's kingdom;
-anger at not being included in decisions;
-dissatisfaction with one's lot.
I understand all this.  The point here is that it is happening in a culture where they are highly controlled within their unchallenged hierarchical structures.  I see the level of unquestioned control as creating personal and interpersonal pressures.  Control just does not work or that is my take.  So there is the reaction when they have the chance, like when there is a meeting being led by an outsider, me.  What I also recognize is that this reaction acts against rightful acting on issues that need to be addressed.  The objective becomes coloured by the subjective and you start to question what is going on.  My response is to keep the focus but change the direction of action because you will get nowhere if you simply disaffect everyone.

You have to not only know and respect the culture but know how to sell your product within the limitations of this same culture.  Not easy and quite tiring but that is part of life here or anywhere and this makes life more exhilarating or more an adventure.    

The Mons

These two holy images adorn the small chapel in the Catholic Bishops' Conference building where I have my desk with the Catholic Commission on Migration.  They are the pride of our Monsignor V, one of the characters of my Bangkok.  Monsignor names himself as the parish priest of the Bishops' Conference, a role which he fills gallantly and with his own style. In his role, he is someone who brings a whole new and needed approach to this sometimes staid Church of Thailand.  I like the guy. 

The Mons comes to us after having spent over 25 years in the diplomatic corps of the Holy See.  He knows and loves Rome, while having had postings in Ireland, Indonesia, Ethiopia.   After such experiences and a life lived on the international level of both world and Church, he now adds to the Thai Church a much needed level of sophistication.  I say this as I would name that this Church lacks an appreciation of the universal Church, of belonging to a body that is much wider than itself.   

The Mons is ever friendly and hospitable, being ever so human with others.  He is a transparent human being who is just so funny and appealing while he talks seriously about the issues of his daily life.  For me in my Bangkok, he is a breath of fresh air.

I do not share this so as to be able to praise the Monsignor.   Rather my wish is to share one of my characters in my Bangkok and what he brings to it - a healthy sense of the outrageous and a sense of new life.  The two images shown here may not seem much to others but they speak heaps of who the Mons is to those around him for they symbolise two of my experiences of him. 

One is his generosity as he bought these himself and placed them in the chapel simply because he values them and wants to share them with the community.  The other is that the crucifix is a rather non- traditional style, and it is this that the Mons openly shares with us, another way of being and presenting Church.  I appreciate both sides of who he is to us, his parishioners, as he so happily names us. 

My characters in my Bangkok are numerous and varied.  Some are a bit questionable but all, like the Mons, are likeable characters, living life in their own unique style.  They take that extra step in life and in doing so offer to those around them a bit more than the usual, a taste for what life could be if only we ventured out a bit more and did things a bit differently. 

The Many Faces of Intolerance.

This picture shows the vigil held in Bangkok in front of the US Embassy to honour the victims of the recent Orlando shooting.  In sharing this, I am not focusing on the tragedy itself but on what laid behind it - the prejudice and accompanying hatred aimed at others we perceive as different or as a threat.

I choose this as a local story of prejudice is the story associated with this local vigil.  It is a story of intolerance in Thailand which opened my mind to another insight into my Thailand and which jolted me in my own assumptions.  Intolerance and discrimination were among the key factors that led to the Orlando killings.  They exist everywhere even in Thailand where order and beauty and happiness are always held up as existing values defining the local scene.

The Thai story in question is of a university professor in Bangkok who publicly decried the appearance of one of his students, saying that because of his looks the student should not have been admitted to the university as he would give the institution a bad name.  This same student, an activist, was a leader at the Bangkok vigil for Orlando.  I first thought that this was an anti-gay stance aimed at the student but my assumption was wrong.

On doing my homework, I discovered that the professor perpetrating the discrimination was himself gay.  He was aiming at the student whom he despised for being a known political activist who has led a stance against the present military government.   The reality is that the professor is against the student for his politics and so publicly insulted his student due to his own level of political prejudice and intolerance.  Basically, being an elitist intellectual, the professor just does not approve of a student taking an opposing political stance in society.  So he is using the students' looks as his way to publicly attack and silence the student.  The real issue is politics. The tool used by the professor was to throw personal insults in the public arena. 

The divide here is not sexual orientation but political.  I discover through this article that a way being used these days to attack your political foes in Thailand is not by reasoned argument but by name calling and referring to those on the opposite side of the fence as being gay.

Now in a Thailand presumably tolerant towards people of different sexual orientations, I am discovering otherwise and that personal discrimination is alive and well, using personal abuse to insult and put down your political foes.  Surprise, surprise!  Intolerance reigns in Thailand as elsewhere.  It just may be more subtle here.

My other insight gained from this story is that it is not always the gay person who is the victim.  A gay person can also be the perpetrator.  Intolerance and discrimination go across all boundaries.  No matter your race, religion, class, sexual orientation, gender, all people can be both victims  and perpetrators of intolerance and discrimination.

A happy group

This week, I share a picture that shows part of my world in Bangkok - the National Catholic Commission on Migration.  The occasion was our six monthly meeting.  You see here all the characters of the outfit and some of them do get mentioned along the way in this blog.  So you might as well get a look at them and see that I do share about real live people.  . 

I have to say as I look at this picture that it amazes me how much good a small group of people can achieve.  It is refreshing to appreciate the good in others as so often we mention others for all the wrong reasons.

The day after this meeting, I had breakfast with a good friend living in retirement in Thailand from Chicago.  He lives in Jomtien and whenever he comes to town, we get together for breakfast at his hotel.  At the end of our breakfast this time, I was asking myself if we had been too negative.  You can guess what we were talking about - politics in the US and Australia but also the life we experience in Thailand.

It strikes me that us expats (I am named as an expat and not as a migrant worker and sometimes I wonder why I get a such a much nicer sounding title in English) spend so much of our time dissecting the country and the people we are immersed in and so much of it can sound so negative.  Stop!

I say to myself that it is not being negative but being realistic and striving to make sense of what we are caught up in, and that is important for appreciation of one's environment and acting on it within it for good.  Otherwise we live a reactionary life, simply suffering what is dished out to us by those around us.

Reality is that life is not all smiles and happiness even in the Land of Smiles.  Everywhere has its strengths and weaknesses, its positives and negatives.  Unlike the rest of the world, here suffers from being presented in the extreme - being the land full of gentle, beautiful people where everyone is happy.  Truth is that here is like everywhere else with its own uniqueness and different characteristics, and its people are human just like on the rest of the planet.  I will often say that I am beyond what I name as the "WOW factor" of Thailand.

Still it is a good place to be with good people and great opportunity.  I appreciate my life here for what it is and what I am able to do, offer and enjoy in the world.   What more can I ask for?

The people that make up my world here are good people but human people which is essential to acknowledge.  Like the rest of humanity, they are limited and fragile, and they are free to be so.  Let them be normal human beings and not exceptional human beings as the system here may like to present.  To think otherwise is dangerous and unfair and leads to distorted thinking and action.  We just soldier on together, making the most of what we enjoy and doing the best we can with what we've got.  What more can one ask for?  Thank God for these happy and normal people with whom I share my life, no matter how limited they may be.  I just have to keep reminding myself of this or otherwise I may easily fall into the dangerous trap of over expectation or over negativity.

Living with oneself

How do you live with yourself when having so much money, power and status gives you (or so you think) permission just to walk all over the little people that you see there below you?  These are the "hi-sos" of Thai society.  "Hi-so" is the local slang for those in Thai 'high society'. 

This is a question I face often living in such a strongly hierarchical and somewhat ruthless society.  I see the "hi-sos" of society from afar and I see how they treat their underlings, and I don't like what I see.  .

My latest case comes through my neighbour.  His great Thai friend who has his own little business in Pattaya had a motorbike accident last week.  He had been hit from behind by another bike whose rider was speeding with his mates and lost control, thus hitting the friend's bike and causing significant damage to both bike and person.

For a week, the poor guy has been receiving treatment and hurting and off from his business.  His bike is in need of serious repair.  Then a week after the accident, he met with the parents of the lad, who had caused the accident with his reckless riding, and their lawyer.  This was to allow negotiations and settlement to occur between the parties.  It happened at the police station and lasted six hours.  The basic aim was to allay and accept blame and then have the aggrieved party compensated.  This is the way justice works here.  Accidents and wrongs are dealt with like business deals.  Needless to say, you have to be wary as the more powerful party is more likely to win the case, and that is what happened here yet again.

The parents of the other and better placed party claimed that their son was not at fault and so there was no payment due from them to the friend.  That was it.  They did however offer a smaller sum than was justly due as a way of showing good intent. So the friend who was not to blame got the blame anyway and went away luckily not having to pay himself, while being kindly granted a small pay off.  I find this appalling.  Sadly this is so typical of what happens here when the so called "hi-so" cause grief to others.  They are just able to walk away taking no responsibility for their action.

They may get away with it but I ask myself this question - how can these people live with themselves?

Human trafficking, sex trade, under age sex workers, drugs, corruption - surprisingly (or so they say) found all in one this week at a very large and well known massage parlour in Bangkok run and frequented by the local population.

Early morning Bangkok

I don't know what it was about what I was seeing this morning while waiting at the bus stop but I had to take a photo.  It was speaking to me at the moment.  Nothing momentous, nothing dramatic!  It just spoke to me. 

As usual I was at my bus stop by 6am to get the bus to work.  It is better to go early so as to beat the traffic and so not waste lots of time.  Right by my bus stop is one of the innumerable spots on the streets of Bangkok where people just place their rubbish for it to be picked up later by the rubbish man, and it works.  So the pile of rubbish is there every morning. 

This morning was a little different when along comes a decrepit looking, old lady in her pyjamas.  She hobbled along so as to reach the pile of rubbish near me and purposefully scrounge through it.  I was watching in amazement.  What is she on about?  Is she so poor that she is rummaging through the rubbish seeking some possible item of worth?  I am thinking how can she go through other people's rubbish with her bare hands, and in her pyjamas.  No class! 

Then I see the end product of her quest.  She had seen a box and was after it at all costs.  The determined, old woman got her prize.  She left with it and I still wondered - what is she on about?

Maybe the question for me really is this - why did it attract so much of my attention early in the morning.  

What I saw was an old woman able to act to get what she wanted.  While doing so, she lived in her own world, not being aware of anyone around her.  She was totally in her own bubble, determined and totally focused.  And on what?  One item in a heap of dirty rubbish. So what was it for me?

• That, in a society so ruled by appearances, this woman did not care one iota what anyone else may think.  She just did it.

• That this woman was so poor that she needed to do this as she could not get what she wanted by normal means.

• That this woman was resourceful and just saw an item she could use and so why have it wasted.

• That she was alone in a society where family and their elderly are so important and people just cannot understand why you would live alone.  

• That this woman was poor and no one really cared in a society so strong into order.

• That, for a people so concerned with cleanliness, this old woman was dirtying herself in public. 

This early morning scene not only grabbed my focus but, for some reason, shocked me.  I am not sure why but I can see that what I experienced was touching on a number of central themes arising in my Bangkok.

Amazing Thailand remains ever the mystery.

Miserando atque eligendo

I am no Latin scholar and never pretend to be.  Rather what I do here is simply present the motto of Pope Francis for his coat of arms, and I only discover it now.  They are words taken from a homily given by Venerable Bede, Doctor of the Church from 8th century England.  His homily was on Jesus' choosing Matthew, the tax collector and as such a publicly recognized sinner of his time.  In the gospel scene, Jesus looked at Matthew, the public sinner, chose him and called him.  He was chosen with the look of mercy.  It was as simple as that.  It is a story of mercy that has spoken to and motivated Francis through his life as bishop and now Pope.

Given my lack of Latin, I ask what does this defining phrase mean?

Following Francis' own explanation, "miserando" means "reaching into somebody with mercy".  So Francis describes it as "mercifying" which is his own word used to give fuller meaning to the Latin.  So Jesus entered into Matthew with mercy and mercied him.  In this way, Jesus chose him - "atque eligendo".

This then is Francis' motto -   I am mercied and so chosen and loved by God. That is the same for each one of us - we are all mercied and loved by God.  I reflect on this during a week special for two close friends back home.  One gave birth to a gorgeous little boy.  The other lost her dear mother.  Both special experiences involved their own history of great struggle and great love.  My two friends do not know each other but I see how their own treasured experiences of this week reflect each other in a world ruled God's love, a love by defined by God's own mercy for each one of us.

It's all about love

 

We can concern ourselves forever in my line of work about how we help the poor and vulnerable focusing programmes and donor money, looking at funding proposals and all sorts of business items, but really the bottom line is that it is all about love for humanity.  That is what we are about.  As the Pope says, the Church is not an NGO. 

 

Then last week, I was thrilled to read Pope Francis' words to women religious leaders in Rome.  It was about women and their role in Church, asserting their role in a positive and constructive way, but it was about much more as well.  I could see Francis offering the insight of a five step model for working on human and community development which I found utterly exciting. 

 

Simply put his model goes like this.

1) As a base line, uphold human dignity for all.

2) Address the evils and abuses that keep people oppressed.    

3) Give a role to the excluded.

4) Give a voice to the voiceless. 

5) Empower those marginalized in society for leadership in service. 

In this way, we show love and, in showing love, we show God.  Such love builds up human dignity and gives hope to a people that need it.  So we are good theologians and our world so badly needs good theologians. 

It's a Heatwave

With 40 degrees and over, sunshine and no rain, day after day, last night it became official this is a heatwave.  So declared my German neighbour.  In such conditions, the weather becomes the focus of how one plans one life. 

It is too hot to go out in the middle of the day.  It is better to go to work early.  When you meet someone, best to meet in a mall.  Stay indoors with the air-con on. 

What it also does is sap your energy so that I just don't feel inspired to write anything this week but I remain determined to do so.  It is not that nothing of note has happened.  It has. 

During the week, I was negotiating going to Sydney for a meeting next month but then discovered that the decision was to be made for me by the fact that there were no seats left on a plane for a return to Bangkok.  This is because of school holidays in New South Wales and the subsequent rush of Australians to Thailand.  That simple experience made me realize how my basic choices in life determine other possibilities and realities for me.  This is where I am and I cannot just go when I want, like or decide.  There are consequences to decisions made and that is the way it is.  This is life.

Sunday saw the arrival of the new administrator to the cathedral.  I thought how I miss our previous administrator as he was so kind.  It made me realize that I have been here long enough to both know and like the priests and now here long enough to be affected by their comings and goings.  This is life

In the same week, I heard of the death of a friend from here and made a new friend.  I had met Allan when I first came here.  We had both arrived around the same time.  This meant that we had a natural bond and shared common experiences.  So we would talk about being here.  Allan became somewhat disillusioned about here but ever the gentleman ready for a friendly chat.  Ten years later he dies in Bangkok.  It makes me think about me and my being here.  You spend a life here and where does it go as time goes so quickly.  This is life. 

This news of Allan's death is shared by another friend with another and me.  The other guy at the end of this news is also shocked.  Maybe it is once again a common bond but within a few days we have a new friend in each other.  This is life.   

Heatwave or no heatwave, life goes on.  This is life. 

Happy Easter!

Happy Easter!

Yes, it is another Easter as last Sunday was Easter in the Orthodox communion.  This highlights the division in the Christian world with different communions of the one faith celebrating Easter at different times.  Such is division in our world.

We see the Syrias of our world, politics in the USA, wars and barbarism in the name of religion and so we can see that world peace is obviously still as far away as it was at anytime in human history.

Why don't we learn from history?  Why don't we learn from our mistakes?  Why do we keep doing the same things when we know that they don't work and even worse when we know the destructive impact of doing the same things?

I live in a Thailand where I see rising levels of violence.  At work, we hired a new manager and the outcome was just totally unpredictable. Within a month of being employed, he hated his staff because they did not treat him in ways demanded by his culture.  He was full of hurt and anger and expressed his hatred and contempt for staff because of what I would describe as simple experiences that he judged to be offensive.  My experience of his response to staff was one of violence.

Anger and hurt are human feelings They are not destined to create more violence but still violence happens everywhere.  If we want to explain the Syrias and the state of our world, I guess we don't look further than ourselves.  Living here, another ingredient I see is that people just do not take responsibility for their actions nor does their system encourage them to do so.  What I then learn here is that violence rises rampantly where no one takes responsibility for their actions and feelings for this results in ones not acting for good change to better life and our lot in it.  So violence is destined to continue and rise.

Easter is about transformation, radical change.  Happy Easter!

Anniversaries

Last October saw my being in Bangkok for 10 years.  I did not realize it then but this has meant many other anniversaries to follow.  In January, I had been with Caritas Thailand 10 years. This September, I will have been living in my apartment for ten years.  So the list goes on.

It all makes me think about life and its many momentous dates. One could spend ten years in one place and waste their life.  I see it.  There are guys living here who spend their days sitting at the same table each day with the same ones, just talking and drinking beer.  After ten years of that, I wonder how you would look back at life.  Maybe you have solved the world's problems.  I don't know.

I look at my ten years and think only now have I really found a place and a voice here.  It has taken this long to get to know some of the Thai clergy and become friendly with them.  It has taken this long to be established and recognized in my pastoral and leadership roles in Caritas.  It has taken this long to establish my pastoral feet in a community at the cathedral.  It all takes time and then the real work begins.  It has taken this long to build up my name and confidence in a foreign land.  I still continue to question so much of what I experience here and many mysteries do remain even after ten years of here but these ten years mean that the questions and mysteries do not chase me away but sit with me and make me think and challenge me about life and humanity and me.

Ten years is a long time in one place for me but it is like I just got here.  Anniversaries do matter as they remind me of the journey of where I have come from and where I am now.  So the journey continues.

Transformation

On the first day back at work after Songkran, which is Thai New Year, Monsignor told us at mass that the Thai word Songkran means transformation. 

For ten years, I have experienced at two levels the annual water festival which falls on 13, 14, 15 April.  There is the lovely water blessing of one's seniors and elders, wishing them well and thanking them for their care and leadership.  Then there is the other which is the mass pandemonium on the streets when everyone lets forth with throwing water at everybody.  The latter is real with three days of outdoor water sports for all - no choice. 

Until this week, I have never thought of this time of mass venting as a moment of personal transformation in one's life, as some sort of theoretical, Thai version of the resurrection.  There again, I guess the wish of every human being is to be transformed for the better and what better symbol to use than water for expressing this human desire.

Water cleanses, gives life, refreshes, makes us feel better.  All these elements speak of transformation in life and who doesn't want to feel clean and refreshed?  Who doesn't want to live life and live it more fully?

Happy transformation!

Happy New Year

No, I am not mad. This weeks sees New Year in Thailand, Cambodia, Laos and Myanmar.  This is the only country where I have lived that has three New Years - 1st January, Chinese and now this one which is the biggest of all three.  Its timing is based on the astrological chart. 

This is their real holiday season.  Everybody is off home to family or out of the country.  And, of course, let me not forget that this is the time for the annual engagement in serious water throwing. 

It is all based on a lovely cultural practice of wishing each other well and new beginnings in life. 

As I approach another year, I could not wish the people better than what is wished in this picture by Caritas Austria for people suffering in our world.  I pray that the people of Thailand treat each other with the respect they deserve as fellow and equal citizens in one society and in the world community.

Happy New Year!

Always the Mystery

The longer I live in Thailand, the more I realize how little I understand but also appreciate how much I learn.  Here is ever the mystery. 

As I hinted in my last entry, in the Land of Smiles, I do see before me people behaving badly or just not knowing how to behave themselves when facing difficult, unknown or unwanted situations.  My man of last week sat with anger for a month because his social junior handed him a document in the wrong way.  Incredible! 

There again, I am on the bus to work this morning and once again I see a conductor, a lowly, poor woman on the social scale here in Thailand, act with great social control.  What did she do?  She barked out her order to standing passengers to take empty seats and they did, silently and without question.  Back home, they might tell her to stick it.

Anyway, back to my senior manager at work.  What he told me more than once and with deep feeling was that this went against Thai culture which makes clear demands on how you deal with your senior.  Over such a minor happening, the anger sat with him and turned into hatred for his junior.  I have to say that after being here 10 years, I still do not get such behavior but it is here.  As for hating a person for such an affront, that just boggles my mind. 

I try to make sense of such an issue in life but I can't and my mind can easily become disturbed in trying to put it together.  So it is best to approach in a more healthy way, standing back and accepting what I can and cannot do.  There is no way I can act alone against culture.  So I decided to leave such a hot, workplace issue and personal problems of the manager in the hands of my boss, the bishop.  As he told once very wisely - Let Thais deal with Thais.  And so I did.  It seems to work, making life livable for those concerned.  This does not say that it resolves anything - it just lets ones face the day. 

Then I see how I behave badly in different ways and for different reasons.  I remember my own bad behavior and acknowledge how no one is better than or above another. 

In a stressful work situation with the affronted Thai male senior, I act in my role to listen to him, show some concern and deal with the situation as best I could, but as the "boss".  My failure was to take on the mission to create perfect order.  This was doomed to failure and this approach had disastrous affects on me personally outside the encounters I had with my man in my work scene, I saw how I was acting impatiently and becoming anxious about what next in my day.  None of this was the way to go. 

It then struck me yet again that it is okay to be vulnerable and fragile.  I have to give myself permission to be human.  I may be the boss in this work situation or the priest, being the shepherd, but I also need others to be a priest, a shepherd to me.  I think we are shepherds together, looking after each other as needed and that situation of need will arise for all of us, one way or another along the way.  We are all in the same boat and no one is ever the captain very long.

Then I read Pope Francis today.  He agrees with me, wise man that he is.  He said in this week's general audience:
How many times we say: "But he is a sinner. he has done this, and that ...".
And you? Each one of us should ask himself: "Yes, he is a sinner, and I?"
We must not be afraid of our miseries.  Each one of us has his own.

They never get angry

A documentary by Joshua Oppenheimer  

This week I was introduced through an Aljazeera interview to Joshua Oppenheimer, a maker of documentary films.  I heard him and I was utterly drawn to him, finding him both daring and insightful.  He was speaking out of his investing ten years of his life documenting Indonesia's 1965 military killings of some one million so called communists.  This had become for him a life focus for he saw here a story that needed to be told.  He saw a story of one of the great unknown crimes against humanity in modern history.  He saw a story that remains current 50 years later in Indonesia for no one has ever been held accountable for what was done so that today you have perpetrators living within the community beside families of victims.  He saw a story that speaks to a world wherein humanity can be so ruthless.  Yet it comes from an Asian country where everyone is gentle and dignified and never ruthless.

Is that so?

This week I have had to deal with a situation in the workplace where an adult Thai expressed to me his great and deep anger.  They never get angry?  That is not so and it is unfair to think that they don't.  They are human after all.  If anger is not expressed or resolved it stays with you and runs the danger of being expressed in ruthless ways.

And yes, his anger arose out of his feeling having been under a ruthless attack at the hands of another staff member, his junior.  As he described what happened, one could think that it was only small matters but for him not so.  They were huge matters for him of being affronted and shown no respect within his Thai culture.  For him, the ruthlessness of another, as he experienced it, caused him great hurt and anger.

Still I do not know the whole story or what may really be going on.  In the midst of outward beauty and gracefulness, there lie anger and hurt accompanied by a ruthlessness that we are all capable of and that I can see here being acted out by one against another in our workplace even if they do not realize it or are doing it ever so subtly. The human beast can be cruel, even if ever sublimely so. 

In a culture, where conflict is avoided and people are not allowed to get angry, what happens?  Anger does not go away.  People do not stop being human.  The dignified, graceful face may remain intact but underneath there is a raging volcano wanting to explode into ruthless behavior.

I see the connection here between my two events of the week.  Bad behavior does occur and people are ruthless to each other, no matter what the face may present.  All is never what it seems.  I keep hitting that line in my being here.

Today's Way of the Cross

The shops and the commercialization;

Via Dolorosa, Old Jerusalem

the guns and knives;
the poverty and oppression;
the cars going along the narrow lanes;
the division among the Christian Churches 
- these were what I named as aspects of today's Way of the Cross as I walked the Via Dolorosa within the walls of Old Jerusalem only last October.

It struck me how the way was narrow, windy and not so long.  Still it is not the city of Jesus' time but the city built over history after its destruction by the Romans.  Who knows what it was like then?  Still you know that this was where it happened and you get the feel for what happened at the time and who was there. 

Jesus' Way of the Cross was real.
 So is ours but in different and more contemporary ways.     

Happy St Patrick's Day!

Happy St Patrick's Day!  That was the message that first greeted my day this Thursday.  It came from my Irish friend and colleague of some years who is now living in Cambodia. 

I live in a Church and country very different from my own.  I do not know any Thai Catholics who would appreciate the importance of St Patrick's Day and all that goes with it for people raised in a Church and culture so strongly influenced by the Irish.  Nor would I expect them to appreciate the importance of the Irish connection and influence for a people and Church far from their own sphere of influence.  Still we are all part of the same universal Church, while coming from many different cultures and heritages.  This is the beauty of the Church. 

Tradition or legend gives St Patrick the honour of being the sole person responsible for the conversion of Ireland all way back then.  What I like about the story is the simplicity shown in his teaching.  Legend has it that he took the three leafed shamrock and used it as a symbol to teach the people about

the Trinity.  Brilliant! 

In the same week as St Patrick's Day when we remember a skilled and committed missionary devoted to a new land, the Thai Church had its annual reception to honour another great man of the Church, Pope Francis.  They do it with great pomp and circumstance here, going to a five star hotel to show off the institutuion triumphant to Thailand.  This is true Thai style.  This is a totally different way and not the way of a simple and true missionary spirit like St Patrick who was able to reinvigorate a land and its people.   

As I remember Pope Francis this week with all the grand celebrations around in honour of him, I have just sat with his challenge to us - Be the Church of the poor for the poor.