Twas ever thus

Getting ready for a wedding at the cathedral.

In all my years at the cathedral, I never saw what I saw this past Sunday.   Yes, they have big weddings with huge arrays of flowers but never like what greeted me at the front of the cathedral on my arrival.  There was a team of five young, enthusiastic workers, arranging a floral display on the mother of all arches at the entrance to the cathedral.  Its purpose was to give the bride something spectacular to walk through as she started the bridal procession.

It as obvious that this particular Sunday's wedding was a hi-so extravaganza.  Inequality is everywhere, even in the church, or maybe especially the church, a long standing and universal institution.  As a friend said on my sharing my reflection on my Sunday discovery - Twas ever thus.

A principle given to us in Church history was that Church reflects society.  How true!  In 2018, Credit Suisse named Thailand as the "most unequal" economy in the world.  It claimed that 67% of the nation's wealth was held by 1% of the population, rising rapidly from 58% in 2016. The World Bank reported that poverty and inequality have worsened in Thailand in recent times, showing that standards of living and income have worsened among all Thais beginning in 2016.  At that same time, Thailand's official poverty rate rose to 10% of the population, while the bottom 40% of the population saw their average consumption and income decline   

These are damning statistics that effect the ordinary citizen on the street.  Life is getting tougher.  The sad truth is there is no need for this to happen if people were just willing to treat each other more fairly.  Yet it happens, even unnoticed, in a society that is so ruled by norms and culture that uncritically reflect given hierarchies, blatantly showing preference to the few over the many.  So the hi-so weddings roll on!