Diary of Roger Stassen: the hammock philosopher

Roger Stassen (59), archive clerk (city of Genk) and author of several children's books, has been married to Siriwan since 1993. She was a teacher in Chiengkhong at the time. Both are looking forward to settling in their Thai home base Chiang Kham (prov. Phayao) within two years.

There was a time when I lectured my sister-in-law, Supamas, when she frequented too many American fast food outlets. She ate donuts, Burger Kings, and Kentucky fried chicken or whatever they were called. A trip to a big city was invariably associated with a visit to junk food joints. The dashboard of her car was cluttered with dolls from the KFC, on the rear shelf was a huge pillow in the shape of a donut. I was afraid that the poor thing would Americanize completely.

'You Thais have a culture to be proud of, your traditional music is beautiful, the Thai dance is so beautiful and graceful, your food is among the best in the world', I would say. 'Cherish your own culture and ignore that meaningless, empty-headed, marketing-backed fake culture.' Countless times I gave this speech, countless times I thought I had to save Thailand from what happened in Europe after World War II… as if I were capable of this, it's like blowing in the wind.

Meanwhile, Miffy's sister-in-law has long stopped going to fast food restaurants. She even thinks it's dirty and unhealthy food. The dolls have also disappeared, tidy state is neat. A consequence of my speeches? I strongly doubt it. No matter how savvy the marketing boys are, once they have broken the spell of savings cards and Gadgets common sense and good taste prevail. Thai people are open to foreign influences, yes, but they filter out the good things and get rid of the qualityless sides.

Thailand is westernizing I sometimes hear. Yes and no I would say. The influences are there but they only absorb what they like and then it is topped with a Thai sauce, they VERTAISE it as it were.

Back at the old workplace after 20 years

Swaying slightly in my hammock, I think back to what I was able to experience with my wife Siriwan in the city of Lampang. She once worked there (about 20 years ago) and from that period she had three very good friends. At the time, she had a job in the hospital library. Well, her friends Jintana, Lek and Supapak still work there.

Our visit was a unique opportunity to do the rounds in the departments and greet all her ex-colleagues. Who will still recognize her?, I thought, twenty years is not nothing. What would the reception be like? After all, I couldn't imagine someone, after resigning himself twenty years ago, à propos in a (random) company in Belgium, during normal working hours, and without an appointment!!! would simply visit all departments.

Experience in my own field made me fear the worst. Someone who showed up after barely two years of absence would soon find that this is not such a good idea. I have seen the looks with which people who retired only a short time ago were received. I've seen people afterwards, disappointed and bitter, muttering to themselves 'Never again, how could I be so naive?'

You will understand that I have been amazed and fascinated to see how my wife was received in Lampang Hospital. She was accosted and greeted by countless people in the corridors of the building. We were dragged to their offices and workshops. Everywhere enthusiastic cries of recognition, sincere, unaffected warm humanity everywhere, everywhere I had to take group photos and afterwards they wanted another one with me, e-mail addresses and Facebook accounts were exchanged everywhere.

We had to wait a while in the registration department. Siriwan's three ex-colleagues went to the market for a while. It's not that busy today, she explained with a wink, so the ladies could take a little break.

Deep, incredibly deep gorge

And again I started to compare and again I understood that there is a deep, incredibly deep chasm between our societies. Not only climate or religion has something in between, but what I just described. And no, not everything is rose scent and moonshine in Thailand. There are certainly a lot of negative sides to this society. Warm humanity, however, is such an extremely important factor that we in the West are in danger of completely losing sight of.