Irony

Irony is found by those of us with a sense of humour. I feel it is the ability to look at things in a humble way. Many comedians base their material on irony, why? Because it is all related to human nature and the imperfections we all strive to ignore. Human nature - the rationalizing of life and circumstance with the need to provide meaning and clarity where there is none. There you go, my saguay into some irony perhaps discovered at this time by coincidence:

So there I am in Northern Thailand. Traveling alone I felt the need for a book to enjoy during my trip. I wandered into several book store previously but everything was in Thai. Though this store had an English section. After about a half hour I started to leave but for some reason I came back into the store for one last look. I picked up a book and it turned out to be a book I had been looking for for some time as I could not remember the author. In 1999 I read a book called "The Alienist" by Caleb Carr. It was a great book as many who know me know I love turn of the century books that include fact with fiction...I love to learn! The book "The Alienist" was situated in New York in 1900ish. I was fascinated by the living conditions in the city which set the scene for a serial killer story. Upon finishing the book I discovered there was a second book,a sequel. I located it and began to read it and then about 50 pages into it I promptly lost the book. I ws side tracked long enough to forget the original book name as well as the author. So here in the second hand book store in Northern Thailand I find Carr's sequel "The Angel of Darkness" again set in New York at the turn of the century. As I began to read the book I found it striking (ironic) how the living conditions and lack of proper waste management in Thailand was so very similar to some of the areas had come across in my journey thus far. Before we go down the road too far of presenting what might be an unintended negative view of Thailand let's talk less about Thailand and more about the western world. Vancouver and Victoria, BC for example churn sewage into the harbour as does Halifax. It was safer to walk in Bangkok and Saigon than areas of Vancouver, Surrey, Toronto and Halifax. We recently just dealt with the killing of some 50 streetworkers by a serial killer here in B.C...I could go on....as could you...the question I was faced with throughout my journey was "are we more developed than Asia?" Over time I began to see a bigger picture that was less confined to any specific region of the world. My beliefs were re-enforced, that little has changed in the last 100 years when you really see the world as it is and look past the gloss every country places politically and commercially over it's image.

I received lots of advice on Thailand by many whom had never been there....pity...the machine driving perceptions, stereotypes and misinformation will forever dog those that need to believe that where they are is the best place on the earth. How ironic! :) Philosophically yours...PHS Dailies