Thailand 1980

Often reduced to its beaches, its parties and its entertainment, Thailand reveals a quieter depth. In 1980, I met a people whose smiles and good humor struck me deeply. Kindness seemed natural there, yet not naïve: it could go hand in hand with discernment and a fair attention to oneself as well as to others.
What also struck me was a pragmatic and dynamic way of moving forward, where progress seemed to lie more in the search for collective balance than in individual success alone. Beyond material development, I sensed the importance given to human values and to the well-being of the community.
In this way of life, I glimpsed the influence of a Buddhist philosophy that favors common sense, right conduct and attention to others. Less a matter of grand principles than of inner dispositions, where the heart sometimes seems to guide more than ideas do.
This was the Thailand I discovered in 1980, a country whose smiles left me with the memory of a warm, active society deeply attached to human relationships.