The Land of Compassion

In the short time I’ve been home, many have inquired as to my take on the tsunami disaster in Thailand. Was I there? Did I get any great pictures? The answer to these questions is invariably no. I was in Bangkok far to the north on that dreadful day and subsequently didn’t travel any further south than Phetchaburi, located on the Gulf of Thailand far from any immediate tsunami effects.

As mentioned in a previous entry, I didn’t learn of the disaster until much later that same day and I think at that time no one, myself included, truly understood the magnitude of the event. Only much later that night and over the course of the next day did we begin to comprehend the scale of the disaster, not only in Thailand but across the Indian Ocean. As television footage filtered in and the death toll climbed, we began to realize just how fortunate we were to have decided to go north to Chiang Mai that week instead of south to Phuket.

While far from the immediate devastation, I was certainly not oblivious to the effects in Bangkok.Over the course of the following days, local news channels and CNN were running non-stop coverage, as were the newspapers. Certainly television footage of waves sweeping away busses, homes, and people are the things that captures the attention of the world and with good reason for it was unprecedented in modern history. But it was the response of the Thai people that to me was truly newsworthy, a heartwarming ray of hope during those dark hours and days. Perhaps even before the general shock wore off, Thais leapt to the response in a myriad of ways. Seemingly overnight, donation boxes sprung up on almost every street, calls for blood donation received a vigorous response, and at drop off points people from all walks of life lined up to deposit clothes, household goods, and other essentials for those who lost everything. People who probably had very little to give were giving what little they could spare. Walking by the Red Cross in Bangkok one afternoon a few days after the disaster, we saw truck after truck, each heavily loaded with boxes of sundry sizes, leave the compoud en route to the devastated southern provinces. Remarkably, cars and busses and taxis all pulled over to let the convoy through the abominable, yet typical traffic congestion.

On a superficial level, these things themselves were only part of what made the response so significant. Similar things were surely occurring in other affected countries and, later, the world over. However, it was the conviction, the heartfelt, serious manner in which the Thais went about their response that made it touching and demonstrated that, despite all that's wrong in the world, the better, brighter side of human nature, when faced with seemingly overwhelming challenges, is capable of shining though the clouds of war, hatred, ignorance, and fear.

Thailand is known as “The Land of Smiles” for its friendly, easy-going people. This certainly proved true on innumerable occasions throughout my travels around the country. Based on what I observed following the disaster, Thailand could also justly be called “The Land of Compassion” for the remarkable outpouring of the wallet, home, and heart for those affected by one of the worst natural disasters in recorded history. So with respect to the tsunami disaster I was fortunate in two very different, yet related ways. First, my travels that week took me northward. Second and more important, I was so very fortunate to have witnessed compassion, true compassion, in its most practical, yet sublime form.