Thursday 22 April 2010

I could have lost my life today...unlikely but possibly.

Yesterday I went to see the demonstration of people of Silom against "Red shirts" in Bangkok representing the political conflict that has been the biggest problem in Thailand for good several months now. Here are some photos...

















































And the very spot I was standing in the last photo yesterday had a grenade thrown in today, causing 10 serious injuries and 1 death. I saw some pictures of this place on news with broken glass and blood. We drove past this spot 30 - 40 min before the explosion on the way back home today.

More than anything, it is disappointing that this is happening. My girlfriend is Thai and so naturally I have visited Thailand many times. It is a lovely country - It is stupidly hot but people are nice, food is good, things are cheap and it has very interesting culture. I'd love to recommend you to visit here at least once in your life - But not now, and I will probably have to warn people always in the future. While it is not my original place of birth, it is for my girlfriend, and I want to be proud of this country. But recent events really makes me feel this country is not completely safe. One Japanese reporter was shot dead in previous crash, and now this - I can't say it's unreasonable for Japanese people to be scared of visiting here. And it is very sad that this thought comes from myself.

Secondly, These people claim that they do it for the country, but is violence really answer to any problem ever? Is it really a way to solve problem that we want to pass down to our children? I am not a hardcore hippy like John Lennon, I know there will always be conflicts and differences, but I don't believe that violence is ever a good way to solve problems.
I'd like to think we know ourselves enough to understand that every one of us live with love from our family and friends, and we are all the same. If you get hurt your family and friends will be hurt - If you hurt someone, you hurt their family and friends too. I don't think I can ever justify action that destroy a family's happiness by claiming that I do it for my country.

I'm sorry to bring totally non-music related topic but it's not so often that I experience things like this, and I wanted to keep my thought somewhere while it is still fresh.

1 comment:

  1. "If you hurt someone, you hurt their family and friends too." People often don't look at the bigger picture when rage/jealousy/anger etc take over, or when they are under the influence of drugs/alcohol - a simple statement like this gets lost in the moment and they, or potentially you, can do something stupid and think nothing of it when really it can impact a lot more people than just the one(s) you target.

    ReplyDelete