Your thoughts on 'Thainess', please

Stephff’s provocative series of cartoons on Thainess suggests an excellent topic for an essay contest. Invite people to write essays, limited to a given number of words, on “What is Thainess”? This would reinforce a recent theme promoting Thai tourism. The annual Junior Dublin Literary Awards contest would be an ideal venue, except that it is limited to students, and this year’s topic has already been decided.

As a special attraction, Prime Minister Prayut and US Assistant Secretary of State Daniel Russel could be invited to submit their thoughts. That would provide a stage on which the two luminaries could duke it out in a mano-a-mano clash that would spill no blood, but probably lots of ink. Just to kick things off, here’s my contribution: “Thainess is like som tam, the national dish: delicious, nutritious, and spicy – but then there are those little black crabs.”  (Some people actually like the little black crabs, which is part of the point.)

I suppose now I’ll be attacked by legions of letter writers for insulting little black crabs. But the essay contest is an idea worth considering. The only problem would be finding a panel of judges who would be absolutely impartial. Good luck in that endeavour.

S Tsow