Thai Lights

Thai culture differs from other developing nations in many ways. Patience in all situations is the ideal. Children are taught from a young age not to push oneself forward. Wait for the slower ones. Share before devouring. Unlike the “win at all costs” attitudes of both western and some eastern nations, Thais are concerned with face saving; be that the face of a small child who cannot master the lesson, or the face of a noodle shop owner who is dealing with an impatient customer.

This quality is both endearing and confounding at the same time, depending on what one is trying to accomplish. In teaching English, I would shake my head when the quicker learners would whisper the answer to the slower ones, not allowing them even a minute or two of thinking to come up with the right answer. I have stood in lines at checkouts in grocery stores and watched in horror as a Chinese tourist got pushy with the little, young cashier. Inevitably, that cashier would work SLOWER to teach her impatient customer to calm down.

Always with a smile, they extend patience freely often times when I need it most. Whew! Face saved!

~ Debbie Ecker