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.