Respect for elders, a tradition we could use year round
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In our younger days during Songkran, my wife and I would bring our daughter to visit and pay respects to our parents as a "dum hua" tradition.
Now that we have become older – and our daughter has grown up and gotten married – it is our child and her family’s turn to treat us with the same simple ceremony each year.
This year, I have noticed that our five-year-old grandson has become unusually silent, solemn and observant during the brief ceremony – as his mother was during her younger years.
It has dawned on me then that this age-old and wonderful tradition will stay within our family for a long, long time.
It would be wonderful if our country’s elders and ancestors are regarded and treated in the same way – every day.
Then love, harmony and peace will be just a smile away – as it has been before this.
Vint Chavala
Bangkok
