Wanderlust: Expat Life & Style in Thailand Dec / Jan 2017: Special Edition | Page 13

Opinion

continually to keep up with the
needs of his people. I see it like
this: He loved this country not because of financial gain but because he wanted what was best for
Thailand.
King Bhumibol battled communism and gave hope to poor farmers by teaching them how to make
a living. He even found a way to
coerce Mother Nature into giving us rain during droughts. I remember finding it magical when
I was little, only knowing the story behind it and not the science.
Nowadays, of course, I realize it
wasn’t magic but a patented technique made by the King in which
an aircraft shot into the clouds
helps create precipitation. Even

now, knowing what’s behind the
wizard’s curtain, it still seems like
an amazing discovery to me.
He was never afraid to be
tired or get dirty. He would walk
through streams and rivers, up
mountains and down trails with a
map in his hand and sweat on his
brow, trying to make things a little
easier for his people.
He opened the gates of his palace during a time of crisis to save
the lives of Thai people and pardoned them from jail sentences. But a million stories won’t be
able to explain how and why we
love our King. He was a father to us.
People tend to have a favorite story about King Bhumibol.
Whether it’s when he was on a

rowboat in a small pond playing
with his jazz band while the boat
was sinking, or the time he started farming in his palace having the
whole place covered in dirt and
manure.
He didn’t need flashy cars. He
often drove a Toyota Soluna, and
the van that carried his body to
its final resting place was one he
used for many years. In a world full
of ego-stroking social media and
everyone just looking out for No.
1, we find ourselves having lost a
father whom we seem to have forgotten these past few years.
Thailand’s state of grief has left
us sad and angry. We are angry because we forgot, as humans tend to
do. We forgot to listen to our father.
We forgot to let go of greed. We forgot to forgive each other. And we
forgot to work hard, not only for
ourselves, but also for our country.
We’re sad because we have lost
a once-bright light in a country
that from time to time seems to
get very dark. For some of us, this
has been the only man we consider
family in our lives. We are grieving
for the loss of our father who, to
my mind, cared about Thailand until he couldn’t anymore.
For those of you who are new
to Thailand, there are no words
to give a sense of the sadness.
We are not brainwashed, as some
have said; we are in mourning. It is
hard to draw a comparison to King
Bhumibol, but the closest I can
estimate would be to the likes of
Nelson Mandela, Princess Diana or
Mother Teresa.
As with any death in the family, we find ourselves grieving immensely. We are heartbroken and
reminiscent. But through all these
emotions we are just trying to never forget — to remember the man,
the legacy and, most important,
how he would have wanted us to
continue living, with respect and
compassion towards one another
and our country.
Yes, I was born an American.
But I’ve never been more proud to
have been born during the reign
of King Rama IX, and I’ll continue
to live life and teach my son about
how to be as humble, loving and
strong as King Bhumibol was.
If our king could do it for
70 years, what’s our excuse?

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