[Chooriwrocaey]

My Thai wife never had much in the way of wealth and personal possessions, but she values sharing whatever good fortune comes her way. I have seen her buy things from poor old women vendors, not because she needed the item, but because she knew the person needed to sell something to survive. Whenever we go to Thailand, she spends much time thinking about who she will buy things for.

I once heard a story about a man who started working for the Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA) in the Southwestern United States. He was being driven across the reservation by one of the local tribal elders. When they passed a nice house with a new car parked in front, the young BIA man was impressed. There were mostly mud hogans and small shacks on the reservation and he was surprised to see such a nice home and car. He remarked to his Indian driver, "That house and car must belong to someone really important in your tribe." The driver responded, "Who, that worthless so-and-so?" The BIA man was taken quite by surprise and asked, "What do you mean by that? He appears to have considerable wealth." "He never let's anyone else use the car and he lives in that big house alone. What good is he to anyone?"