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Maybe It Takes A Fool, the Sequel

It's another anniversary. The Chiang Mai Perspective was launched on April Fool's Eve, 2000. On this landmark occasion we are celebrating by being late.

Well, last year we examined the issue of "fool." And we concluded that "fool" applies not only to someone who is willing to believe what is NOT true, but also to someone who is willing to believe what IS true, especially when everyone around him thinks to believe this way is foolish. By the end of last year's anniversary issue, to be a fool - or to be an optimist - was a good thing. And there were several email responses from readers of this journal saying, in essence, "I'm a fool, and proud of it."

This year, I'm not so sure if it's good to be a fool. If we stick with last year's analysis, maybe it is. But things have changed in the world, yet again. Reality has struck a nearly fatal blow to visionaries and idealists. Fools are leading the world - and their foolishness is not something to celebrate.

"Stupid is as stupid does, sir." [Forest Gump]
       

fool (fool) n. 1. a person who acts unwisely, one who lacks good sense or judgment.
........ fool's paradise, happiness that is based on an illusion.
........make a fool of, to make (a person) look foolish; to trick or deceive.

In the past, it was funny to play jokes and tricks on friends and even on those who were not so friendly. It didn't make them a fool for life, just a fool for a few moments. And on April Fools Day, nobody minded - except maybe the real fools.

In Thailand, it is customary to smile a lot. The people reserve anger for special occasions, while on normal days they maintain a polite and friendly composure, even when dealing with someone who is in a bad mood. Quite often, as it happens, the wrong person occupies a position of authority, such as the president of a company, or a dean of a faculty. As their lack of knowledge is only equaled by their lack in social skills, the only way they can assert their authority is by ordering around those of lower rank. These authorities are quite often in a bad mood, for a good mood, they think, is a sign of weakness. Who's the real fool?

In a school where I once worked, the faculty was presided over by just such a dean who believed herself to be the most competent educator and professional of all time. To suggest that she ever erred in judgment was treason. To attempt to correct for her mistakes was grounds for dismissal. While her heritage was Thai, and her upbringing presumably of the simple, smiling type of people we see everyday, she was able to cover this "weakness" with a permanent bad mood - maybe even a terminally bad temper. The remnant of a smile on her face was a rare and unwelcome site.

One way the dean asserted her authority was by giving orders to younger staff. A recent college graduate, named Lek, held the position of librarian. She arranged and managed a multi-media reading room. Students enjoyed coming to the multi-media center as much for playing with the electronic machines as for receiving assistance from the librarian, who went out of her way to please students and teachers alike.

Needless to say - no, it needs to be said - at least it should be said that ..... I forgot what I was going to say. (This is not an April Fools joke. I really forgot what I wanted to say about Lek.) .... Anyway, Lek's smiling presence was always a welcome site in an environment dominated by a dismal boss. The dean could and did rally over Lek's youth by giving her menial tasks and contradictory orders.

So it was that on any given day, you could see Lek going about delivering messages, or cleaning things and straightening out rooms, happily. Imagine, if you can, a young recent college graduate singing to herself while doing chores she didn't need to go to college to learn how to do. That was Lek, comfortable with whatever life threw in her direction.

And so it was that on one given day, Lek was ordered to transfer some books and equipment from her multi-media center to a different room, designated to be a special library. The dean periodically came around to see the progress of the new library location. "Put Science material here, Business books here, and Language Arts over there," she ordered one time. So Lek casually went about arranging the new library as she was told.

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The next time the dean came to the new library, she scowled, which really didn't alter her usual facial expression by many degrees, and said to Lek, "Why are you putting Business Books here? They should be closer to the Language section. What did I tell you before?" It was a rhetorical question. And Lek answered rhetorically by silently and calmly rearranging the books according to her new orders.

Lek received some unsolicited assistance from a few students and a couple teachers in transferring material and arranging them in the new library. It might have seemed like a little party, with a small group of people talking and joking with each other as they wheeled carts from one side of the building to another side.

Once again, the dean assaulted the new library with her presence, and when she walked in, the work did not stop, but the talking did. Once again, the dean scowled - or maybe it was her own expression of concern. The dean spoke first to a student, "What are you doing here? This is supposed to be a library for teachers." Two students walked away. The dean looked again at the room, and then spoke to Lek, " I told you, this is not a good place for the Business books. Put them over there, not so close to Language. Arrange this room like a real library. And remember, at 2:00 you need to be in the multimedia center. My class is coming in to work on their projects." The dean left, and Lek and a couple teachers went about rearranging the new library, again, talking as they did so.

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At 2:00 Lek went to her station at the multimedia center, and assisted students from the dean's class. The class was enjoying this hour, working on computers and other machines instead of listening to a lecture. About 20 minutes into the hour, the dean walked in and scowled - which by now was clearly the natural expression her face was accustomed to assuming whenever the dean was preparing to say something. Lek was in the midst of showing some students how to operate a video machine.

The dean called Lek to the front of the room. "What is going on here, a circus?" she began. "This is supposed to be a library, not a picnic. You aren't supposed to be here anyway. You should be getting the new library ready. What did they teach you.........." and the dean continued to berate Lek in front of a class of students and a handful of teachers, even throwing in some unnecessary comments about Lek's family and what class of people they were, until for the first time in memory, students and teachers saw Lek's face change from its usual patient smile to a hint of frustration, and maybe even anger. As the dean dismissed Lek and Lek went back to the new library, for the first time in memory, the students saw a hint of a smile overtake the dean's usual scowl, as the dean basked a few moments in the knowledge that she had humiliated the young worker. "Foolish girl." she said, as she turned her attention to her stricken class.

But who was the real fool? Lek may have lost her composure for a few minutes, but she didn't abandon her way of being. She continued to be pleasant to people, and do whatever work she was told with patience, and even with happiness. And she continued to win the admiration and respect of the many people she came in contact with. Maybe this was unwise, for making friends in the workplace is commonly seen as a threat to an incompetent boss, and can lead to losing a job. So was Lek a fool? Maybe. Maybe living in a fool's paradise, under the illusion that all was okay around her.

       

The real fool, though, has to be the one who is most deceived. In Thailand, students must act respectfully to their teachers, and teachers must be respectful to their authorities. And so that is how they treated the dean at all times; with respect. However most teachers, and most students knew that the dean gained respect only because of the office she held, not because of merit. And that day, when the dean humiliated the young librarian in front of her students, nothing really changed in appearance. Nobody lost admiration for Lek. But the esteem in which the students held the dean fell below zero. The stories spread and the truth about the dean became evident to the teachers and the student body alike. To this day, the dean believes that the respect that she receives is real and deserved. She deceives herself.

Well, true as this story is (with characters and events composed of composites of actual characters and actual events by composites of fictitious writers and story tellers who try their best not to resemble anyone alive or expired but fail), it illustrates a point: There are fools leading the world. Much as watching them bask in their own self-deceit may be humorous, the consequences of their leadership is not. If there are fools for leaders, what can we say about their followers and supporters? Leaders are plunging their countries and the world into needless wars and tragedies and economic ruin, while their followers - many of whom will lose everything because of their leaders' actions - are cheering them on.

And what about the other side; the many people who don't agree with what the world's leaders are doing, and raise their voices in protest? Are they also deceiving themselves? Will anybody really listen to their protests. Are they just shouting at themselves?

Will anybody in this frenzy of deceit and self-deceit act with wisdom or even notice it if it ever surfaces? I think someone will. I have to believe that the reaction to foolishness will be a massive take-over by the wise; that corrections can and will be made, and followers will rally behind new leaders who aspire to do what is right to do; and that the energies of the world will be turned to constructive purposes rather than destruction.

I almost forgot to mention, because it really didn't fit into this story, that recently there was another Buddhist holiday. I accompanied my companion, View, to a nearby temple, and this time we purposely walked around a chedi (the structure in a Buddhist temple where monks deposit their bones when they don't need them anymore) three times so that we could get a wish. Well, my wish didn't get noticed yet, so maybe I get another shot at it. Not to be selfish, I'll pass my wish on to you. Here is what it is:

Within the lifetime of everyone who receives this e-periodical, I wish and I believe we will see the day when understanding will replace endless arguing, Truth will replace deception, wisdom will replace foolishness, April Fools Day will again be a day of frivolous celebration rather than a day of mourning, the world will once again belong to the people who live in it and share it with all others and not just to the leaders and corporations, the price of a jar of pickles will be affordable, people will visit landmarks without fear and without loathing of security measures, air will be breathable and water drinkable, and there will once again be an environment which allows us to have good dreams and which encourages us to chase those dreams. If any of this represents your own desires, then my wish will be that your wishes come true. And if any of this represents your beliefs, or even your desire to believe, then you share the Perspective .........of a fool.

27 November 2002.....Tribute to JFK
31 March 2003.....It Takes a Fool 2 (Anniversary Issue)
22 June 2003.....Between the Clouds