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Giving In Thailand
ThailandTom
Veteran
I thought I would share a little funny story, maybe it is trivial but it kind of made my day.
I went to school today, my two hour lesson reading and wrting Thai. Once that was over I went to the bank as I have collected these western union transfer slips. You can trade them in for items such as bags, toasters, umbrellas, and the more you have, the more expensive things you can get. Anyway I only had 12 and so I was expecting an umbrella (which I need as my other one just broke and it is the monsoon season here), and a bag for my GF. After a little while at the desk they came bag with 4 bags and 4 umbrellas. I was a little surprised and said 'jing jing?' which means kind of like 'are you serious? She said yea and with a smile on my face left the building.
Now I knew automatically what I wanted to do, give them away! So I headed up a side street on the way home and as I walked I could hear people in Thai saying things like, "look, that farang has all those umbrellas and items of clothing." The bags do look like shirts a little in the plastic wrapping, they are a nice fabric to be honest. Anyway I gave away 3 umbrellas and 3 bags to Thais who I thought would need them the most. Also to people who have helped me in the past. I kept the umbrella for me and the last bag for my GF. But I feel so good about doing this as the smiles on the peopls faces and the compassion of giving was so evident. There was something I read a long time ago now about if you give something away but then think things like 'oh I kind of needed that but wel' it is pretty pointless from a karmic point of view. In this case I simply noticed that I wanted to give it away and it I am glad to have made an impact on some peoples lives, be it little or not. I am also happy because I managed to get to school today after battling with myself from 5am-9am with anxiety.
Sorry to ramble on, but take care NM members and remember everything is ownerless, even emotions such as these ons I have now of being happy and conetent, they are not mine and I cannot grasp at them, they will pass away when they do.
I went to school today, my two hour lesson reading and wrting Thai. Once that was over I went to the bank as I have collected these western union transfer slips. You can trade them in for items such as bags, toasters, umbrellas, and the more you have, the more expensive things you can get. Anyway I only had 12 and so I was expecting an umbrella (which I need as my other one just broke and it is the monsoon season here), and a bag for my GF. After a little while at the desk they came bag with 4 bags and 4 umbrellas. I was a little surprised and said 'jing jing?' which means kind of like 'are you serious? She said yea and with a smile on my face left the building.
Now I knew automatically what I wanted to do, give them away! So I headed up a side street on the way home and as I walked I could hear people in Thai saying things like, "look, that farang has all those umbrellas and items of clothing." The bags do look like shirts a little in the plastic wrapping, they are a nice fabric to be honest. Anyway I gave away 3 umbrellas and 3 bags to Thais who I thought would need them the most. Also to people who have helped me in the past. I kept the umbrella for me and the last bag for my GF. But I feel so good about doing this as the smiles on the peopls faces and the compassion of giving was so evident. There was something I read a long time ago now about if you give something away but then think things like 'oh I kind of needed that but wel' it is pretty pointless from a karmic point of view. In this case I simply noticed that I wanted to give it away and it I am glad to have made an impact on some peoples lives, be it little or not. I am also happy because I managed to get to school today after battling with myself from 5am-9am with anxiety.
Sorry to ramble on, but take care NM members and remember everything is ownerless, even emotions such as these ons I have now of being happy and conetent, they are not mine and I cannot grasp at them, they will pass away when they do.
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If merit isn't dedicated then the next time anger arises in the mind it will be destroyed.