Happiness is a Choice
As a culture, the Thai are gracious, happy, gentle people. Seriously, the only exception that I have encountered was a customs agent who was not at all amused that I did not have a return ticket, specific plans, a Thai telephone contact and thought I made up a phony hotel name. He was insistent that there is no such hotel in his city and wanted proof. My phone does not work here and I had been forced to check my backpack, containing my itinerary folder, on the short flight from Hong Kong to Chiang Mai. Agent Grumpy confiscated my passport and called for an officer to escort me to baggage claim to retrieve my itinerary providing evidence that I had not fabricated a hotel name. Even the immigration officer was welcoming and enjoyable. We chatted, or more accurately, played charades for about 40 minutes while awaiting the paperwork that would support the information I provided on the customs form.
We visited people who graciously welcomed us into their one-room huts of woven bamboo and grass roofs, housing a family of nine. The structure will likely only stand for 2-3 years, at which time the residents of the village will help construct a new home in a single day. If they do not complete the construction by nightfall they will disassemble the hut and start again the next day, as completing the building in a single day is fortuitous. We have worked with girls who have been indentured by their parents. We have been in the fields alongside workers harvesting crops in temperatures exceeding 100 degrees. We have visited with monks who have no possessions and are reliant on the tradition of almsgiving, or ‘bin tha bhat’, from the community for their only meal of the day. So far, the only grouchy, disenchanted people I have encountered are a couple of the American volunteers in our group, and to borrow a phrase that my husband liked to use “they wouldn’t be satisfied if you hung them with a brand new rope.” I just don’t get it (thank goodness!}. How does one possibly complain about minor inconveniences while immersed in this lifestyle?
News Flash! Contentment is a conscious choice. Things turn out best for people who make the best of how things turn out.
