We had our weekly Rotary meeting, and everything prceeded as usual. The main topics that we covered were about the 4 students from my city going to RYLA (Rotary Youth Leadership Awards), a 4 day leadership camp in Chiang Rai, and our Northern trip, an 8 day trip with all the inbounds touring Northern Thailand. All 4 of us were going to RYLA, but 1 of my friends couldn't afford the Northern Trip, so she wasn't able to go. We were all really bummed, because she would miss out on a week of crazy cool adventures, like cave exploring, seeing the Long-Neck Hill-tribesman, and visiting a royal mountain top garden; Doi Tung. It was kinda tough to be talking about it for the majority of the meeting, even though we had mostly come to terms with knowing that she wasn't coming.
As the meeting was wrapping up, our club president (the host mother of the girls who couldn't go) said her final comments and then started walking around to many of the people present who had started to pull money out of their wallets, 100, 500 and 1,000 B bills were being taken out and handed to our president. We didn't understand what our president had said at the end of the meeting, but we guessed that she was collecting gas money for someone to drive us up to the meeting location for our trips. It's about an 8 hour drive, and LPG burns pretty quickly, so we would have to fill up quite a bit.
After all the money was collected, our president counted it up, gave a bit of a nod, and everybody smiled. Most people then proceeded to turn to us, still smiling, as we sat there kind of awestruck. I mean, we get stared at a lot when new people see us, but we had attended these meetings before, so it was rather peculiar. A few of them started to point over at us, and particularly the friend of mine who couldn't go on the second trip. Her host mom then walked over to her, and through broken english and hand gestures, let us know that the people who barely knew us, many of whom have no direct implications in our lives, had just pooled together enough money to pay for my friends entire trip... We don't have a very big club, so there aren't a lot of members, and the trip costs around 15,000B. That means that each contributor put forward a substantial amount of money for her and the trip.
Many Thai people don't necessarily have a lot to give, so this gesture towards this girl means that much more. From what they have to begin with, they can still find it within themselves to give that kind of money to someone who is almost a complete stranger to them. Their actions brought a tear to my friends eyes, who graciously and very humbly took their gift. She was very considerate and appreciative of it, and while she was individually thanking people, not a single person who contributed seemed to have even the slightest inkling of regret or a sensation of being forced into it. They all just seemed happy to be able to give her the opportunity to go on the trip...
What these people did tonight will undoubtedly have a profound affect on my friend. I hope that she can see the good in these people and remember what they had done for her, and learn form it moving forward, but even if that isn't the case, she will now be able to participate on a trip where she will see and experience things the she otherwise may never have had the chance to do. Things that she can take back to her home country with her, and share with all her friends and family, and that she can cherish forever.
Whether or not I believe in the whole Buddhist vision of Merit and Karma, I damn well hope that these people get all the good luck they can, and have their prayers answered. Their completely unselfish and communal actions will go towards sending a young girl on a trip of a lifetime, and for that, they deserve some good coming back around to them.
I wish more people could see things the way these Thai people did tonight, and I truly hope that I can learn from this, and maybe start to see things in a slightly different light, a less selfish and more open-minded light.
Just something to think about...
Much Love,
Cole
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