'Rose-colored glasses and hard truths'
“Thailand, Rob… it’s the promised land,” Henk begins, his eyes sparkling as he holds up his pint of Chang as if it were the Holy Grail. “Here you really live. No stress, no hassle about rules and taxes. Here you are free!”
Rob sighs, leans back and looks at Henk with a weak smile. He already knows this tirade, but he suddenly feels in the mood for a discussion. “Free? Free, Henk? Free to fool yourself, perhaps. Do you think they give a shit about you here? To them, you’re just a walking ATM. Smile a little, nod politely and the Baht will roll in automatically.”
Henk laughs out loud as if Rob has just told the joke of the year. “You are just cynical, Rob. The Netherlands has delivered you neatly, a sour Farang who no longer sees the sun. You have nothing left of that zest for life. Here man, here I feel the freedom in my veins.”
“Freedom?” Rob chuckles dryly. “Dude, you only see what you want to see here. For you, this is a playground. But listen carefully: this country is not what you think it is. For every smile you see, there is a thought you don’t want to hear. They smile at you, Henk, because you pay them. And one day you’ll come home with your rose-colored glasses from a rude awakening.”
Henk takes a sip and looks at him challengingly. “So what? What does it matter if you become a few euros lighter? You are so afraid to let go of control for once, to really live. Here at least you are embraced, hospitable, with open arms. No distrust, no hidden agendas. Pure and sincere.”
Rob leans forward and his gaze darkens. “You really have no idea, do you? Pure? Sincere? Henk, they only want your money and that money might make you important here temporarily. But as soon as the Baht stops, you’ll be gone too. You think you’re special, that you belong. But you’re just an odd bird who comes here to live his dream, while they’re just trying to survive.”
Henk grins, determined not to be discouraged. “Well, I’d rather live in a dream than in that miserable rat race in the Netherlands. There, you’re forced into society like a robot. Here? Here, I’m someone. I live Rob, and you just can’t stomach that.”
Rob takes a sip and looks at Henk fiercely. “Someone? Do you really believe that? They laugh, yes. They hold your hand, bring you beers and smile sweetly at you, but you are nothing more than yet another tourist who thinks he has understood. And when the moment comes that you run out of resources, you see how quickly that smile disappears. Here it is ‘adapt or break down’. And you don’t even understand half of what is happening around you.”
Henk snorts visibly annoyed, his facial expression changing from pleasant to tense. “And you, I suppose? You must be one of those dissatisfied expats who complains every day about what’s wrong with the world without ever changing anything yourself. You keep clinging to your bitter rightness while the world changes before your eyes.”
Rob is silent for a moment, his gaze cold and hard. “What about you? You’re walking around like a blind dog in a meat factory, Henk. You think everyone here is behind you, but they’re only laughing because they know they’re milking you. It’s a game and you’re the joker. They see you as a walking wallet and nothing more. They’re playing the game because they know you’ll never get it.”
For a moment it looks like Henk wants to get up, like he wants to walk away, but he stays seated and looks his friend straight in the eye. “You know what, Rob? I’d rather have a happy joker in a dream than a bitter cynic like you. You’ve lost yourself in distrust. You only see the shadow in people and because of that you miss the whole picture.”
Rob chuckles scornfully, his gaze unyielding. “Maybe. But I’d rather have that hard truth than walk around here like a naive idiot who thinks the world is dancing to his tune. You’ve got it too good, Henk. And that blinds you to reality. If you ever come here with both feet on the ground, I hope you survive.”
The silence that follows is charged, sharp and unforgiving. Henk stares ahead, determined never to take off his rose-colored glasses. Reality may be dark, but he has his own truth, his own illusion and he will defend it tooth and nail. Because without that dream, without those pink wings of freedom, nothing remains.
About this blogger
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My age officially falls into the category of 'elderly'. I've been living in Thailand for 28 years - try to do that. The Netherlands used to be paradise, but it fell into disrepair. So I went looking for a new paradise and found Siam. Or was it the other way around and Siam found me? Either way, we were good-natured.
ICT provided a regular income, something you call 'work', but for me it was mainly a pastime. Writing, that's the real hobby. For Thailandblog I'm picking up that old love again, because after 15 years of hard work you deserve some reading material.
I started in Phuket, moved to Ubon Ratchathani, and after a stopover in Pattaya I now live somewhere in the north, in the middle of nature. Rest never rusts, I always say, and that turns out to be true. Here, surrounded by greenery, time seems to stand still, but fortunately life doesn't.
Eating, especially lots of it – that’s my passion. And what makes an evening complete? A good glass of whisky and a cigar. That’s about it, I think. Cheers!
Photos, I don't do that. I always look ugly in them, even though I know Brad Pitt pales in comparison. It must be the photographer, I think.
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Beautifully written Farang Kee Nok, hit the nail on the head and we as readers can now make a choice, who do you want to be; Henk or Rob?
Who do you think is happier, Henk or Rob?
The eternal dilemma of the glass half full or half empty, I have told it here so often, I can well imagine that Thailand is not your thing but you have a Dutch passport, you can go anywhere.
90% of the world's population has nowhere to go if they don't like something, some people have no idea how lucky they are to have the freedom to choose.
Henk and Rob have to go into the blender together and be rebuilt into Ronk.
This way they can handle the Thai temptations much better.
Last week I got to sniff a dose of the Netherlands and had almost the same discussion with my brother. We are water and fire in many things and that has been the case since our early childhood. Maybe it is time to question the expression of rose-colored glasses, because in my eyes rose-colored glasses are positivism and normal glasses are the calvanistic "act normal and you are already crazy enough".
Enterprising people must have rose-colored glasses anyway to not want to see bears on the road and the pessimists then almost automatically become employees or wage slaves. In that group you also have managers who want to play the boss and leave again when they can't be slave drivers enough with all kinds of burn outs with people as a result.
Who is crazy? The rose-colored glasses or the so-called normal ones?
Service has become something in the Netherlands until we stand by but you as a customer have to do it all yourself. Controls to the bone when participating in traffic so that there is 99.9% safety with the advantage that many cannot handle it and the state coffers are nicely filled.
Do the Dutch realize that they have ended up in a surveillance state? All the pin payments and 24-hour wifi leave a trail of daily movements per person.
All well and good but if you mention that then you are accused of having rose-colored glasses because you can't see the disadvantages. Well, everyone knows the disadvantages of bureaucracy, insurance, visa problems and poverty and so it is not a land of milk and honey.
It is actually a country where you can live like you did 40-20 years ago without all the diaper stuff.
In those days you didn't have a cell phone and no news was good news.
To me, rose-colored glasses represent people who know how life works and therefore become a popular concept.
Always wanting to see the sun in something is painful for people who don't get it. Even if you've been able to hold up your pants in Thailand for 30 years and you return to the Netherlands at an old age, you're still a kind of loser in the eyes of the white Dutch. Of course, they don't say that to your face because they also have colored glasses.
The funny thing or maybe not is that many colored Dutch people I know do not think in terms of rose-colored glasses and perhaps because they know that it is a form of jealousy. But the latter is of course never the white Dutch person.
Anyone who goes to any country with the intention of spending a lot of money and making his money roll is welcome everywhere and a welcome guest.
At that moment, neither your skin tone nor your nationality or religion are of any importance. You may be a rude bully and yet you will be spoiled more than the poor devil sitting a few tables away.
Anyone who enters somewhere without a penny is a pariah everywhere.
Anyone who comes to Thailand without a Baht to spend will not receive many smiles or friendliness. Without money, all doors remain closed.
Money rules the world.