Daily Lessons from Life 24 September 2010 - Bomb blast in Bangkok wounds three

A quick updates on Marathon training: Did my 2nd 21km jog yesterday at the Club's gym with reasonable satisfaction as I was able to jog continuously at an average pace of 7.6km/hr through out the session. Got to put in more mileage than last year by mid-Nov 2010!

"Bomb blast in Bangkok wounds three - Fri, Sep 24, 2010 AFP

BANGKOK - A small bomb hidden in a rubbish bin exploded in a residential area of Bangkok on Friday wounding three people, the latest in a series of blasts to rattle the Thai capital, police said.

'The explosion occurred around 5:00 pm (1000 GMT) today,' Police Lieutenant Colonel Sompol Phantapiban told AFP, confirming the incident was caused by a bomb in front of a row of shophouses in the city's southeast.


He said three people suffered minor injuries and were taken to a local hospital, while police were investigating the cause of the attack, which is likely to unnerve Bangkok residents still recovering from recent political unrest."

Well I am heading to Bangkok on Sunday 26/9 for an assignment. It is sad that such unnerving incidents are still happening in the Land of the Smiles.

Lessons for me are:

1. a nation can be easily split in half or more disjointing parts when emotion runs high and no one is willing to compromise and cede some grounds;

2. when you do not give something that the other parties want, it is very hard for them to give you what you want. Like the recently reconvened hopeful and ambitious Middle East Peace Talk between Israel and Palestine, it has come to the crunch time - the settlement. If no one give, which was exactly where the past efforts failed at, the sad history of failure at peace attempts will repeat itself. It is just as simple as that;

3. the ability to look at the big picture and make a little self sacrifice for the betterment of the majority is rare these days. Perhaps the stakes are so high that no one really want to give in, no matter how little. Or may be the cruel and brutal historical truth is that the so-called losers will be permanently disadvantaged by the ruthless winners! When there is common purpose and no trust, things will not work out. When there is not even common purpose, there cannot be trust! Will someone break the deadlock by making the unexpected sacrifice to give in a bit? I hope so. So do the friendly Thai people!

Of course, in the current Thai situation, the majority who voted in the last government is the one being asked to compromise with the minority in the prosperous capital city of Bangkok. Surely there are enough riches to benefit the rural majority and the urban minority if one looks and tries harder.

May there be peace - on a prolonged basis.