LIFE

This week, I was on a few days retreat up in the north.  I went to a place called Chomtong, an hour's drive south of Chiang Mai where my friend Br Anurak has a community development mission at the foot of the mountains.  He has given it an interesting name - CLUMP (Communal Life of Love and Unity of the Mountain People).

The name does not betray how beautiful and rich the country is.  It maybe reflects more how the people up in the mountains live remote and poor lives, seemingly leading nowhere, especially for the youth.  It is to these people that Br A has dedicated his life and mission, working with them together as a community, so as to empower them and better their lives.  It is about moving from dependency and poverty but not simply to being independent and rich.  The latter is not the goal or the answer.  In the midst of all that goes on, being there nourishes one's soul.

One product they grow, produce and market is coffee.  They grow the coffee trees up in the mountains where these Karen people live and where it is cooler.  They then bring the beans down to the CLUMP centre where everything is set up for processing and marketing and then onto sale in their coffee shops in Bangkok and Chiang Mai.  It is an amazing operation.  Just as amazing as the operation is to see little insights given by nature as Br A and his community do their business.

For me, a city boy, one such simple but amazing insight is that the coffee trees are planted under already existing big trees.  This means there is no need to pull down trees to make way for your crop and the big trees look after the smaller coffee trees.  So your crop blends into the natural setting with the big trees acting as big brother.   It is like an act of solidarity by nature where all participants give and protect life together. 

This is what Brother's mission is all about - nurturing life - and you do it by adopting and building up and not destroying to make way; by using the resources you have and not imposing from outside.  Life is quality and nourishing like a good cup of coffee. LIFE is his brand name.  Life is about being interdependent.

Visakha Buddha Day

Tuesday was a Buddhist holiday, a day which remembers Buddha's birth, death and enlightenment - all in one.  Quite resourceful really how they organize it.  For some in my Bangkok, this day is one of those no alcohol days that they so dread.  Life is fleeting.  So what is one day without alcohol at the bars?  Life and death, hellos and goodbyes are everyday realities.

My great Irish neighbour moves out this week.  A sad moment to farewell a good friend in my Bangkok but as ever such goings highlight a central element of my Bangkok - it is most transitory.  People come and go.  Nothing remains permanent.  That is life. 

So the wisdom of Buddhism to remember all of Buddha's major movements in one day.  A reflection on how temporary life is. Buddhism focuses on the suffering and impermanence of life.  We come, we go; life goes on.  Quite freeing all this really as it tells us that no one is indispensable. We make decisions, we move on and life evolves, and evolves in ways we could never imagine or plan.  Life, and not just Thailand, is truly amazing.  I could never plan it any better myself.

A new store in my Bangkok where there was a massage shop.  Businesses come and go.  So what next? 

Shop until you drop

Chinatown on a Saturday morning

On a hot, steamy morning, crowds team into the narrow alleyways of Chinatown in the search of a bargain.  I had joined them when I went along for the ride with Om on his now weekly excursion there as part of his new business.  What he does is buy drinking containers which he then sells through family, friends, work and Facebook for a small profit.  He does it because he enjoys it, giving him an extra interest and the people contact on which he thrives.   It is amazing how people can make money.  These drinking containers are all the fashion at the moment and I live in a society where fashion rules.

So I went for the experience to see the business and found myself being overcome by both the heat and the crowds.  It was all a bit much.  I watched all these people shopping for bargains and thought I would rather pay the extra at a local stall and save all the discomfort.  Still I wanted to see what Om does on a Saturday at Chinatown and it was something different for me, an adventure. I got to see what all these other people do as well for a bargain or to do some business themselves. 

One of the pillars of Bangkok is shopping.  I would name the other two as being food and tourism.  Of course, there is much more here with Bangkok being a huge city and the political and business capital of Thailand.  Shopping is fun for some but I think it hard work.  It is business, and serious business.  You fight for every baht.  Drop the price by 10 baht to 140 baht and you draw the crowd.  I just stood back and watched and wondered.  Shop until you drop?  It is more likely that you will collapse from the heat or get pushed over by the crowd. 

Thank God for our garbo!

5.30am on a Monday during a storm.  Ever faithful!

It is the start of another week.  It is 5.30am Monday morning and I am at the bus stop, waiting to get the bus for work.  I always go early to beat the traffic and get in and do some work before mass.  I figure that this way I can also leave early.  I am up anyway.  So it all makes sense.

Well, this particular morning, I left extra early as there was a storm about to begin.  I find myself at the bus stop and am there as usual with the rubbish men out getting the rubbish, which they do each morning.  Then it struck me as I was there waiting in the rain.  Here they are ever faithful to their task even in a storm.  Their daily task is hard enough, being dirty and smelly, but today it is even more arduous with their getting wet in the rain.   Without doubt, they are among our daily unsung heroes as what they do for all of us is really quite amazing, especially as I see rubbish pile up in my Bangkok and see how it is all handled by hand.

Maybe they just love their job or get great job satisfaction but I wonder.  Maybe it is the best job they can get and they are happy to have done a good job each day.  Well, good on them.  Whatever their story, they do a job that is necessary for our daily existence in our city.  Without them, I could only imagine what a disaster my Bangkok would become.  Thank God for the garbo, as we say back home.   ("Garbo" is Australian slang for garbage man.  We so love to shorten our words.)

If we ever think our lot is tough, spare a thought for the garbo out in the streets early each morning doing a hard and dirty task for us.  Then when in the rain - Amazing!  Maybe it is fun and there is the camaraderie but I also think - Yuck! I truly am thankful for what they do for me and all of us. We have so many heroes in our life and many we never even know or recognize.  As I see my local garbo on a rainy morning, I am thankful for him and I am thankful for my own lot in life.  Together we share our Bangkok and each of us has our needed role and our place. 

PS - It is Thursday and the garbo was not out at the usual time.  I wondered where he was.  I guess we all need a sleep-in or a day-off, even the garbo.)

Communio, it is.

Well, a week later, communio does win the day.

Last Friday, I had another first in my Bangkok.  Even after over 12 years here, I keep having firsts.  It is that sort of place.  It was a ride on a motor bike but not just another ride in Bangkok where bikes are a way of life.  The difference this time was that I was on the back of a motor bike during heavy rain.  It is not what I would normally do but I had no choice as otherwise I would be stuck waiting out a storm into the night.  So onto the back of Om's bike I went and into the rain.  The ride was wet and wild. and free.  The worse that happened was I got wet and that was no harm.  It was such good fun but still I will not be doing it every week.

If there is to be a deeper interpretation of the experience, it is to be found in the sense of freedom felt and the fun enjoyed with a friend.  Is that not communio, at least in part?

Then in this same week, another experience was to be part of management meeting at my workplace.  What I was hearing being described by staff was a closed system, a system that was not welcoming and not experiencing great joy.  Its pay-off is something else - security and control.  The latter does not work, while the former does not assure happiness and is not everything.  My line to that meeting was to open our minds and be open to the new.  Compared to my simple motor bike ride, this experience was deadening.  Not the way to go.

As we come together, it is about diversity and it doers involve disagreement but let us not overlook the joy of life.  Life is not all hard work. It is much more - sharing, enjoying, working out issues together, building a bit of harmony.  Communio does win the day and a simple life experience of a motor bike ride with a friend reminded me of that.

I have no photo this week as I want to share the exhilaration of my ride in the rain and not of a depressing meeting.  Fact is I could not use my smartphone in the heavy rain.  One also has to be realistic. 

It's Communio

I am surrounded in church by eternal talk of community, by people who espouse great ideas of love and concern.  Then I have an experience with them of our shared reality and think - are we looking at the same reality?  Such nearly unreal thinking and talk seem to be what make church tick but so much of it is talk as when the crunch comes - where is community?  When you really need someone - where are they?  When there is an issue - where is the compassion, the rational thought?  Love and community can be used as one's smoke screen or front for something else sought.  The question can be - What is one's real agenda?

I am expected to listen to everyone else, and I try my best, but at times I find myself asking - Who listens to me?  I am expected to give and do for the other, and I try my best, but I find at times asking - When will it all just take a break?  Then, no matter how hard you try, when you do not deliver as others may want or like, they become difficult, complaining, confronting but of course remaining ever loving and acting as good members of the community.  Fascinating.  What to make of it? 

When someone does not get the listening ear they want or the style of service they expect, why don't they just stand back and think for a moment - no one means anyone any harm and everyone is doing their best with who they are.  Then the old adage from scripture studies comes to the fore - unity within diversity.  What a great motto for love and community.  I would propose that what we are really searching for is not community but communio, a coming together of hearts and minds.  .

Another Year Begins

Rambo John

Another year has begun.  Watch out!  In some ways, it has started quietly with light traffic on Bangkok roads as we await the return of all our residents gone away for the holidays and with cooler weather due to a storm or two.

The New Year was fun.  If you can't beat them, join them.  So I got my weapon of choice and went out dressed in shorts and t-shirt ready to play water with everyone else.  It was fun but I just wish that they would not use such cold water.

Water is the key symbol for the season and it is used in both dignified ways and outrageous ways to give a blessing and to have fun.  Sometimes it is over the top in the water throwing field but generally people just enjoy.

A person I know through my work with Caritas made her comment from Italy.  Wouldn't it would be good if we had out our fights using water pistols instead of lethal weapons?  That may seem simplistic but I thought that a rather smart insight.  In this innocent comment shared may lie a message for the new year - act in simple ways for peace.  There may be another message that tells us wisdom is found in the simplest of ways.  Wisdom is not rocket science and is not confined to the realm of some assigned elite.  Wisdom is ours.  Get in touch with our wisdom and follow it.