Let's Go Wild

#68 1 September Spontaneously late

   "Thailand's economy is a blend of a strong agricultural sector with a developed manufacturing sector and a stable service sector. Although the agricultural sector has given way to others, it still employs a large part of the labor force and still bolsters exports, the engine of the country's economy. The World Bank."

   The above, via Wikipedia, doesn't mention tourism... which also employs many Thai people. Tourism was dealt a huge blow by Covid. It hasn't yet recovered to 2019 levels. All this being said, the population of about 65 million had a GDP of less than USD500 billion in 2022. The US spends twice that just for the military budget we know about. So it's quite sad when, despite a widespread poverty we know little about in America (notice I did not say it's unheard of) I prefer to live here. Why? Several reasons. 

   Let's start with sharing. Even at a macro level, I see corporations that would, in America, be laying off workers to maximize profit; here they staff the big box stores adequately. There is a hardware chain we frequent that has enough cashiers there's almost never a wait, and staff will recommend a less expensive item and send someone to fetch it, patiently waiting before completing the sale. Every department has several staff waiting to answer questions as we shop. This means people have income, certainly not at US wages but at least enough to survive. There's also an inherent willingness to let others use a high cost purchase, like a milling machine or vehicle, which Americans would hesitate to lend out. The neighborhood doesn't need a machine for every farm; one can service the needs of many. We lend out a rice hulling machine, two huge flatbed trucks, a machine to harvest sugar cane, one to squeeze the cane into juice, and so much more. My family frequently puts together a plate of food for the elderly neighbor who is homebound next door... Of course they do. We know when we have enough and are generous with the rest. That's natural.

   Let’s also know that there is little government support for those facing hard times. No FEMA, Social Security, or food stamps and housing support. This forces people to be compassionate with their neighbors, in contrast to the “self-responsibility” so prevalent in the US. Assisted living facilities have yet to appear, and while nurses in hospitals only tend to the medical needs of patients (the family is responsible for the personal needs of a relative), the care is mostly paid for by the government. This lets Thais seek medical assistance at the drop of a hat; now if you are a fan of allopathic medicine, that may seem great. If not, rest assured: the local pharmacy also trades in natural (primarily Chinese) cures too. Pharmacists are at more liberty to diagnose simple illnesses and give you a medicine (again mostly paid for by the government) than in America. Hospitals are reserved for the serious/critical illnesses and injuries, making them more available.

   Here also we (Thai people) acknowledge the unseen. Modern, nose in the air looking down on the "wild savages", also tend to acknowledge the same, while deferring responsibility for one's results to a higher power, frequently mediated through a powerful priesthood. Here prayers are more general, let free to the Universe in general, not a humanoid in the sky. They are also directly in contact with the energy involved. Shamans understand what I mean.

Buddha Mountain (Khao Chi Chan) is one of the largest Buddha images in the world, 130 x 70m, and it is laser-carved on a tall mountain and inlaid with gold leaf, on the outskirts of Pattaya, Thailand

Buddha teaches how to live and why, but is not prayed to like the Christian God. Many Thais also feel connected to the spirits that swirl around us all the time; one might say it is animism, or just a more visceral connection to the invisible that is so shunned by Modern. If words, when spoken, carry a vibration that can change the future, then it might behoove us all to develop a practice that allows us to deepen our knowledge of the unseen. We frequently seek merit both on “our” property as well as at temples all over the country, some famous, most merely local. My point here is that the spiritual is both deep and continuous here.

   Farming is difficult in the best of weather; farming in temps over 100◦F is brutal. And just as in any country, mis-timed rain or drought can spell the end of a farmer’s financial ability to plant the next crop. Neighbors again pull together, helping to replant, offering seed and assistance with replanting, and sometimes loaning money from their own crop sale to help their neighbor. In Modern, we rely a lot on government assistance; unemployment, food stamps, career counseling, and all. How much spiritual vitality do we give up when we place our fate in the hands of a giant bureaucracy?

   Another aspect of Thai life that I cherish is spontaneity. Living here (almost five of the last twenty years) has taught me this: no plan is a good plan unless it changes, and no plan is a great plan unless it changes a lot. Rain might be too heavy, wind too strong, to drive safely so we delay our plans and wait on the side of the road. And I have driven in or near the eye of Gustav and Sandy; neither was as bad as the first ten minute monsoon front that we experience frequently here. Thai people don’t trust banks; they buy gold instead. If they need money they sell the gold back to the gold store, of which there are many in every community. We start the building with the funds we have, and we know that as we need more, it will appear but not according to a calendar that will always be on time. We don’t let the perfect: perfect funding, perfect plans, easy access to materials and labor; get in the way of the good. If we don’t start, we will never finish.

   Lastly for this (late) posting, I love the unsupervised, undirected play that most Thai children still benefit from. They go outside, just like I did when I was young, and play in dirt, pick flowers, kick a ball back and forth…the activities someone young learns so much by doing. The children will drift from their home to neighbors’ homes, finding someone and something to play with wherever they go. For my 20-month old this is priceless, and although she has experienced it on three different trips here, I again hesitate to return her to California where things are so much more isolated and distracted.

   Most of the qualities of Wild I write about every week: healthy relationships, communities, and Nature; are closer to my touch in Thailand than in Modern. Maybe because the people themselves are closer to the Wild world, especially farmers, than Americans are. But this doesn’t mean we can’t find the Wild in America; we just have to look more deeply and eagerly…so Let’s Go Wild.

Update: We had intended to return today and our travel to get close to the airport meant I had no time over the weekend to finish this. But here we are…spontaneously late.