True Happiness

November 9th, 2005

Helen Keller, a woman who was both blind and deaf, once offered us this gem: “True happiness is not found in seeking to satisfy every craving, rather it is found in patient fidelity to a worthy cause”

I had to wait for 40 minutes this morning on a street corner waiting for a friend in a tourist district today. Tourists by the hundreds walked past me as I sat outside a Hotel / Shopping Strip. I was just observing, trying not to be too judgemental (I am also a tourist here!). However, I did notice a common thread that linked them all, and I feel it must be shared:

Every single tourist looked miserable!

Now, here’s my purely speculative guess as to why:

Thailand

offers an intoxicating brew of super-sensory stimuli. If you want it, you can get it, and chase it all: luxury, pampering, leisure, pleasure, food and sex are all in abundant supply - especially at night-time when it all reaches a fever pitch. So, perhaps it is in the morning after, when people awaken they find themselves in a state of shock, stripped bare and robbed, not physically, but psychically.

They were promised so much: power, prestige & popularity. And yet they find themselves still just as lonely, just as disconnected & just as empty as the night before, perhaps now even a little more so. Hence they trudge on, pushing deeper and deeper into the darkness of a quest they know is futile, yet one they refuse to abandon.

And they say that we are the lucky ones?

Tags: Travel

3 responses so far ↓

  • 1 J Gilmore // Nov 10, 2005 at 4:16 pm

    Good to hear your refections I can imagine the corner and the expereince of watching and the importance of recognising the difference between the attraction on intoxication and the courage of being clear. The simplicity of telling the difference is not made easy byt he disolving of boundaries that confuse all of us. It gets harder to tell the differnec bewtween what intoxicates andwhat brings deep happiness. Blessings on you street corner expereinces. Here’s to fidelity!!!! and to our cause!!!

    John

  • 2 Simon Risson // Nov 14, 2005 at 1:59 pm

    I feel somewhat inadequate to respond to the depth of experience that you are sharing in right now…somehow, though I am compelled to at least say thank you! I am being drawn back into this site over the last few weeks & it seems having my eyes opened to a wider world. It’s interesting to read your reflections & ‘assumptions’ & I can’t help but wonder that the tourists you see are those who experience the same things at home. Seems being disconnected, robbed, lonely, stripped bare & in shock is a common theme in our world -no matter where you go to look for something different.

  • 3 Jon Owen // Nov 14, 2005 at 8:20 pm

    Spot on there Simon, people come all the way overseas to find that their dissapointments also came on holiday.

    Also, it is saddening and embarrasing to see what Aussies get up to here, then return to re-commence “respectable” lives.

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