National Anthem

Every morning, at assembly, the school lines up for the playing of the Thai National Anthem. I did receive an English translation of it earlier in the year, but I do not know what I did with it. One line that did stand out for me is a line about how Thai's are caring and peaceful people but will fight to the death if they need to. I thought this was a rather interesting combination of ideas in one line.

Anyway, the reason this is interesting is I know how big of a discussion it currently is in the US to say the pledge of allegiance, with the word God in the pledge and everything. But over here, there is no problem with standing and honoring the country. There are several underlying ideas here that allow certain things to be the way they are.

1. I mentioned how Americans are lucky and take for granted their freedom of speech. Not that there isn't freedom of speech in Thailand, but I would say that freedom of speech over here depends on the subject of the speech (some may argue this is happening in the states right now as well, which maybe it is, but not to the extent as in Thailand). But it is this freedom of speech that allows Americans and America to essentially tear itself apart and divide the country.

Since America has the right to argue and critic everything, people have formed differing opinions about almost any aspect of life. If someone doesn't agree with something, they usually speak up and argue their case. However, in my opinion, this is allowing for many historical and proud aspects of our culture (such as the pledge of allegiance and religion in schools) to be questioned. Which I think is devaluing our morals and values.

2. Since Thailand has strong socio-economic classes and individuals are not able (or not allowed) to improve upon that, they accept their lives for the way they are. This forces people to not question things. It can be bad, since independent thinking and a desire to improve ones self are not important. It also keeps the power where it currently is in the country.

The positive of this is that no one is questioning the greatness of the country and everyone is very patriotic to the country and the king. They may not always like the PM, but the country and king are always a subject of great loyalty.

I know this post may not be very organized and clear (I have had several students come in and ask questions, thus disrupting the thought process), and I probably missed some things I wanted to say, but what I wanted to describe was this...

The nature of the American society has allowed for more independent thought and freedoms, while also allowing for and leading to a less patriotic and less grateful country as a whole (I think anyone who travels outside of the US will admit that Americans are ungrateful. Thats the way the rest of the world sees us too). On the other hand, the nature of the Thai society has hindered independent thought and self-improvement while preserving the loyalty to king and country.

A double-edged sword in many aspects.

As a final thought to this, can you truly miss out on something if you never experienced it in the first place?

Aaron