The Perils of Yellow Shirts and Unstable Governments

Okay, this thing with the yellow shirts has got to stop. It's turned this country into a yellow frenzy. Last year, Thai people started wearing these yellow polo shirts with the king's symbol on them because it was the king's 60th anniversary on the throne. We wore them on Mondays because the king was born on a Monday and Thais have very strong beliefs about wearing certain colors on certain days. That I understood. And then when December rolled around and we were getting ready to celebrate the king's birthday, they told us that we should wear yellow shirts every day in the month of December. I grumbled and somewhat complied by wearing yellow about 3 days a week. I was thinking, "Thank god it's january and we don't have to wear those wretched shirts anymore." Our first day back after New Years I was disturbed to note that everyone was still wearing yellow. When I asked, the Thai teachers explained that the king will turn 80 years old this year so we have to wear yellow shirts every day. EVERY DAY!! 365 days! It's insanity. Pretty soon all colors of clothes will be outlawed and I will be forced to wear yellow shoes and yellow underwear. I rue the day that will happen but I fast see it approaching.

What I don't understand is why the Thai people don't just ask the king to govern them again. Their constitution allows them to defer power to the king in times of turmoil. Most Thais were unhappy with the past government and they seem to think the new government is going nowhere fast. They are utterly disturbed by the bombing that occurred in Bangkok and Chiang Mai. The king is the only person who has the power to completely unite this country. I only wish it could be so easy. I honestly don't know what's going to happen in the future here. I thought that it might be better if I could read Thai because maybe then I could gauge how Thai people feel about the political situation. Yet my friend Chan informed me that the Thai news is being censored by the government so even Thai people don't know what's going on. I knew about the bomb in Chiang Mai long before most Thais did because I read foreign newspapers.

The thing that worries me most is the thing that I most admire about Thai people. They are laid-back, slow to anger and rarely worry about anything. Buddhism teaches them that life is fleeting, we have no control over the future and so we don't need to do anything. We just sit back and wait for things to happen. There's so much to be said for this philosophy but I wonder what this does to personal responsibility. Shouldn't we try to prevent future atrocities from happening? When should we actually start to "get worried?" When is "Mai pen rai" not the answer?

Last week I could hear the worry in my mom's voice as I discussed staying here another year. I too have been thinking a lot about the future. Is it worth it to stay somewhere possibly dangerous? Yes because that pretty much covers everywhere nowadays. But of course I will be more cautious and careful about where I stay and who I travel with. Chan told me that Thai people really value the tourism industry and that foreigners would be the first to be evacuated if something serious happened. But I don't think it will come to that. I hope everyday that some sort of solution will come.