ATMs

An Easter message from Pope Francis

Life can be very fickle and fragile, especially in my Bangkok where I see so many western males indulging themselves.   These men come here to pursue their paradise, otherwise insensitively named as entertaining their needs.  Instead of paradise what they enter seemingly unknowingly is the ultimate local game where they become the victim, while they think they are getting all they want for little investment.  I lay no judgement on anyone but neither do I join them.  I just observe and learn and share wisdom gained.

Yes, they find love, they find freedom, they find pleasure and that is okay, but what they lack is a sense of perspective, a sense of  consequence.  The latter hits when it is too late and their paradise is lost, as their lot has been built on meaningless pursuits sadly, and maybe unconsciously, based on their and other's vulnerabilities.

They come looking for love, companionship, filling a gap, answering a compunction.  Whatever their quest, it has been met by ones here who have needs as well and it is done unwisely.  For the locals, the game is summed up in meeting two basic needs - money and opportunity.  So both parties meet to have their needs met.  They presumably do not voice those needs to each other.  What I see results is that the local party is much smarter in the partnership, getting their needs met.  Meanwhile, the western male has fallen prey to what transpires, becoming angry, shocked or just resigned to the inevitable.

What is lacking time and again is wisdom and a shared sense of everyone's vulnerability.  The resulting picture put bluntly becomes one where the western male is named in local jargon as an ATM and the Thai partner is identified by the western male as the evil or conspiring victor.   

Rather than recognizing the vulnerability of each other in this narrative and responding to each in good ways, this social phenomenon in my Bangkok feeds off the vulnerability of all parties for the sake of pure and ultimate conquest.  It is about victory by one party where there are only winners and losers - never is it all winners in this unfair dynamic.

All parties playing in this local "ATM syndrome" would do well to first read the Easter message of Pope Francis shared here and take it to heart for the sake of their own good and well-being.  This message is so apt for our world, one divided and suffering and ever vulnerable.  We can all be winners.