Chilling on Koh Samet with the dog that adopted me

[penda]

So there I was, hanging out on Koh Samet (with a bit of a sunburn) when I spotted a chair with an umbrella. 30 Baht later, and the chair and shade was mine for the day. I put my coconut drink down and start to put up the umbrella, hoping that the shade will be enough to let my sunburn heal (despite the fact the sun is super bright and the sand is pure white... thus bouncing most of it right back at me despite any shade I could find), when a dog darts out of the bushes behind me. He takes a long look at my drink, decides it isn't good enough for him, and lays down in the shade of my umbrella... thereby taking up the spot I was going to put my chair in.

He gave me a look that was like "Look, pal, I've been kicked, beaten, and shot at nearly every day since I was born. You don't want to fuck with me. Now sit down next to me and scratch me behind my ear... I've had a hell of a day."

And that's what I did.

Comments

[hetaera15.livejournal.com]

*grin*

[inevitability.livejournal.com]

You know what really bites about this story? Most (read: almost all) foriegn people in Thailand run miles to avoid dogs and cats because of fears of disease. And many Thai people treat animals abusively.

So they get very little love or kindness from humans. Most of the dogs and cats I petted were STARVED for affection... but were still terrified of me when I would pet them. I could see it in their eyes.

It broke my heart.

[hetaera15.livejournal.com]

It was just the same way when I went to Turkey. So many feral animals were just desperate for attention and people just shooed them away (or worse, of course).
It's so hard for me to understand countries where most animals are feared or despised. :(

[inevitability.livejournal.com]

I think animal rights are probably a bi-product of wealth. Children need to be taught that animals are to be cherished and not hurt otherwise they'll just maintain the ant/magnifying glass mentality, but when you're franticly treading water in a society that seems hell bent to drag you down you don't have time to think about things like that.

That being said, I don't think it requires a "wealthy society" to have people who are conscious of the innate of right in all beings to live in peace and safety. I think it just requires a society that isn't driving its citizens into the ground. For example, the dogs around the Karen villages I visited were in much better condition (and so were the people, for that matter), because they had a society that was very distinct from Thai. To some western eyes they would seem poor, due to the fact that they lacked cable TV and A/C, but they were happy, only worked 6 months out of the year, and had time to devote to things that are much more important than money. Such as family.

I think that's probably a big reason why the people, and the animals, were in much better shape and were happier.

[inevitability.livejournal.com]

So basically, I would argue that they're wealthy in their own right. But many western people would disagree. But anyway, I think the time they have enables them to focus on values such as those.

In the US we don't have a lot of time, but we have a ton of resources and a fairly powerful police state that allows us to enforce those values even if some of our citizens don't understand why. That's a wealth of a different kind. Probably a lesser wealth, since it is based only in arbitrary pieces of paper and brute force, but it is a wealth nonetheless.

You take somewhere like Bangkok, and the citizens neither have the time of the Karen nor the money of the Americans. It isn't surprising that the animals are mistreated. They just don't have the ability to do anything about in their situation.

[euphoricone.livejournal.com]

dogs like you. :)

[inevitability.livejournal.com]

Dogs and I have an understanding, it seems.