Happy NewYear

Thailand is the only country I have lived in where they celebrate three New Years - 1st January, Chinese and Thai.  Truth is that the last New Year is the best.  Thai New Year, or Songkran Festival, is celebrated 13 to 15 April.  It is the country's major, annual holiday time and best known as the Thai water festival with its major water fights in the streets.  It is quite incredible. The country stops to throw water at each other and they love it.  

I have a theory.  In such a disconnected world, throwing water at each other is one way of connecting.  So it could be named as Songkran - the Festival for Connecting in a Disconnected World.   Crowds of adults throng in the street to spurt water at each other with water pistols.  It is a huge social phenomenon that attracts a good share of international tourists, who come to play with water pistols in the street.  How does one explain such social behaviour?  

Is it the need to connect in some way or the need just to let go and have fun, or a bit of both, or something else?  In a tightly controlled society, like Thailand, control goes out the window for three days and people are free to let off some steam.  Or is it something deeper?  Is it the human need to be with others and simply enjoy being with them?  

My experience tells me control does not work.  The human spirit can't be dampened by outside forces, of whatever nature or source.  Having fun is good.  Add these three simple statements together and are you nearing an unstated, social contract that allows Songkran to become the mass phenomenon it has become?  If Songkran is an annual social experiment in fun, what is it saying about the people and their society?  Is this a manifestation of the human bonds necessary for social cohesion?  You have to move beyond indulging in this fun event to discover any deeper meaning or message that resonates for the remaining 362 days of the year and understanding better My Bangkok.  

Happy Thai New Year!.              

Transformation is the word

Easter fire

If it is about anything, our Easter faith is about transformation.  That is not a way or ideal we often contemplate, for we generally just go along with the everyday, doing our bit, living life as best and as joyfully as we can.  By the way, what is wrong with that?  It just is that life is about much more than just the routine.  It has a deeper meaning and purpose.  

Okay, where is this heading?  Let's get real.   

I recently attended the opening of an art exhibition, arising out of the revolution in Myanmar.  The exhibit and the whole event spoke of the warm and life-giving spirit of the people of Myanmar, who have suffered for far too long, at the hands of their own military.  As a people, they know very well the killings, the arrests, the torture, the destrucion, endured for decades, under military rule  They are an oppressed people, but with a strong spirit, knowing that life is about so much more and yearning for that for so long.   

So they rose up in solidarity to say, "No more", acting to transform their society into something better, something they deserve.  In the face of so much injustice and suffering, this is a seemingly insurmountable challenge, but one that the people have chosen to meet.  While not the chosen way, armed struggle has tragically become their reality, as they saw no other choice in a world that was failing them.   Whatever happened to human solidarity?

As I heard said by a speaker at the opening, a revolution is fuelled by heart and passion, not by weapons.  Passion is the energy for the human struggle, in which we share to transform our world and self into the image of God.  Passion is the essential ingredient in a world where relationship with the mystery, the sacred of life is at the core of human existence.  Ultimately, love and passion, not violence, win the struggle for all to enjoy the fullness of life.    

Art and culture lie at the heart of this transformation.  I saw and experienced this at the opening of this wonderful art exhibit, fuelled by the people's passion for their revolution - with its live performance of music of the revolution, quilting made up of pieces of cloth from the clothes of political prisoners, pictures of body art used as a way to protest against brute violence and oppression.  

We all need to be transformed.  I surely do.  Our world needs to be transformed - just look at Myanmar, Gaza, Ukraine, Sudan +++++  Transformation may not be talked about much, but that is not to unerestimate its importance in our world and lives.  It surely does not happen easily and that is why it arises mostly out of our human suffering and chaos.  

Such is transformation!  Such is Easter!  

A message of the art exhibit