GentlemanJim
12-23-2011, 10:57 AM
I don't really know why i am writing this but a recent incident has sent me into a blind rage. Perhaps this will prove cathartic...
To set the scene a little, many years ago i spent time in thailand training and traveling. I had a fantastic time and discovered a great deal about the local culture, muay thai and most importantly myself.
Role foward 16 years and i have come back to thailand on holiday with the wife.
In thailand, there is a growing business in training foreign muay thai fighters, and in amongst these are some absolute @$#!s. Interested only in the indescriminate use of violence!
To the tale then
A boy with two of his mates took exception to a lone american in the bar. The boy grabbed a bottle and smashed it into the face of the american. The result was 58 stitches over and around the left orbital and permanent scarring. The dr says his sight in that eye will one day return.
To sum up the guy is a mess!
This terrible assault represents to me, the worst aspects of human behaviour.
Unknown to the 'boy', the man who he assaulted had close connections locally and those connections had decided in his absence that retribution was required.
The police were called and arrests made. The 'boy' was destined for a trial and a very brief existence in a thai jail before retribution would mean that his stay would be terminated and the body repatriated.
The boy, the big man that he was, started to tear up - realisation dawning far to late that this mistake would cost all.
Enter the victim, who pulled himself out of the clinic, and went to the police to ask that the charges be dropped. He stood in front of his local friends and, with blood soaking through his bandages, asked that they forgive his attacker.
The look of shock at the request was universal, nobody could believe their ears.
In the end a settlement was agreed, 50,000thb and the attacker walks away, the amount sufficient to cover the medical bills and a small amount to cover costs in the USA associated with further checks.
An amazing act of charity that, i think, suggests that perhaps we as humans, are not beyond hope.
It seemed like a story that needed to be told.
regards,
To set the scene a little, many years ago i spent time in thailand training and traveling. I had a fantastic time and discovered a great deal about the local culture, muay thai and most importantly myself.
Role foward 16 years and i have come back to thailand on holiday with the wife.
In thailand, there is a growing business in training foreign muay thai fighters, and in amongst these are some absolute @$#!s. Interested only in the indescriminate use of violence!
To the tale then
A boy with two of his mates took exception to a lone american in the bar. The boy grabbed a bottle and smashed it into the face of the american. The result was 58 stitches over and around the left orbital and permanent scarring. The dr says his sight in that eye will one day return.
To sum up the guy is a mess!
This terrible assault represents to me, the worst aspects of human behaviour.
Unknown to the 'boy', the man who he assaulted had close connections locally and those connections had decided in his absence that retribution was required.
The police were called and arrests made. The 'boy' was destined for a trial and a very brief existence in a thai jail before retribution would mean that his stay would be terminated and the body repatriated.
The boy, the big man that he was, started to tear up - realisation dawning far to late that this mistake would cost all.
Enter the victim, who pulled himself out of the clinic, and went to the police to ask that the charges be dropped. He stood in front of his local friends and, with blood soaking through his bandages, asked that they forgive his attacker.
The look of shock at the request was universal, nobody could believe their ears.
In the end a settlement was agreed, 50,000thb and the attacker walks away, the amount sufficient to cover the medical bills and a small amount to cover costs in the USA associated with further checks.
An amazing act of charity that, i think, suggests that perhaps we as humans, are not beyond hope.
It seemed like a story that needed to be told.
regards,