The Somali government is hard-pressed by warlords. Troops chew qat. Their afternoons are spent in a euphoric stupor. Few want to man roadblocks, so children have been drafted into the army. AK-47s replacing their battered toys. A few dollars a week for food. Lucky in a country where there is no work.
Everyone loves the lucky. The lottery players on our soi in Jomtien have my son Fenway pick their tickets. They've won three times. Not big money. Not little each. Fenway is considered lucky and lucky in Thailand is good. Good other countries too.
“Luck is what happens when preparation meets opportunity.” - Seneca.
I feel lucky for my life. I have a good family, a beautiful wife, Mam, a job (and that's not a small thing these days) and my health, but some people want more and hard work is not the answer for their desire. They know hard work. They need a break and Thai police recently arrested a former nurse selling post-abortion foetuses as "child ghosts" or 'luk krok'. The officers found 14 pickled foetuses in her inventory. She told investigators that the 'child ghosts' were good at picking lotteries.
Most Thais would prefer to have a luk krok amulet than the real thing.
Of course the power of the luk krok stronger in Ban-nok.
Most farangs don't buy into these beliefs. They are too smart to believe. But not all farangs are so smart as to be that stupid.
“I can believe anything provided it is incredible.” - Oscar Wilde.
No comments:
Post a Comment