Happy New Year

Happy New Year!! 

No, to those back home, I am not mad for this week sees Thai New Year or Songkran.  It is New Year in Laos, Cambodia, Myanmar and here.  Well sadly, we know the present story of the tragedy that is unfolding in Myanmar.  We pray for and with them.  

Here, this is traditionally the time when Thais go home to their families or go on holidays and, of course, play huge water fights out in the streets.  Of course, due to the pandemic, this is not the same sort of festival this year, while many have still gone home.   This festive season is doubly not the same this year with the third wave of the virus impinging onThailand, and it is a wave driven by a new variant which spreads quicker and is more dangerous.  

This has seen a cloud cover any festivities and has dampened the general festive mood.  So I was wondering what to share this week as I neither wanted to be overcome with a sense of doom and gloom, nor just be bright and cheery within the present context of the harsh reality being faced by us in Thailand.   The former approach gets us nowhere as life has to go on no matter what.  The latter is just out of touch and insensitive, failing to acknowledge the real suffering of the people.  

Then the answer was given to me, literally into my hnads, on my way to work this morning.  Every morning, I walk past a food, street vendor near to the Bishops" Conference.  Every morning, we exchange friendly greetings.  This morning, he stopped me and gave me some rice and a piece of his fried chicken from his business, telling me in his cheery way that today is his birthday and so he was sharing his birthday with me.  How kind!  I wished him a cheery Happy Birthday.  

He gave me what I want to share this week.  People's kindness is enduring and lifts us up.  Such kindness is a powerful act for givng hope.  Hope is real no matter.  It is seen in such simple acts of human kindness.  Out of such kindness rises my greeting.

No matter what, Happy New Year!

Fried chicken and sticky rice gieven to me by the birthday boy.