King taught us the merit of true acts of sacrifice

Pid thong lang phra, or putting gold leaf on the back of the Buddha statue, is one of the oldest Thai sayings, but it’s a far cry from being Thai tradition. It speaks of the merit of doing good deeds without expecting anyone to see it, let alone admire the doer. Despite being one of the most widely used Thai expressions, Pid thong lang phra is in fact one of the hardest things to do. After all, we live in a world where almost everything needs to be advertised.
To say that His Majesty the King often practised the principle of Pid thong lang phra may make some cynics frown. A lot of royal activities and projects have been well publicised. We see them in books or newspapers, on TV or at exhibitions. There have been plenty of occasions to promote his deeds or ideas. Also, everyone was happy to help with the publicity, not least because it was a good thing to do.
That’s true, but the bigger truth is His Majesty was a big jigsaw, and Thais have only seen some pieces that were put on show. There were a great many things that he did which few people knew about, and various intentions that were probably misinterpreted. There are videos, for example, that might have appeared tedious before but are being looked at now with a fresh perspective. For one thing, those videos confirm that His Majesty was sincere, well-intentioned towards his country, and did not care about what kind of publicity his activities got.
Things have been falling in place, and none showed the monarch as being bothered about self-promotion. He practised Pid thong lang phra in plain sight, giving encouragement to injured soldiers, telling provincial governors his ideas to fight floods or drought, teaching hilltribe people how to earn a living without relying on narcotic crops and giving schoolchildren extra knowledge and inspiration.
Celebrities always get attention when they go out of their way and do something good. When politicians held so-called “mobile Cabinet meetings”, they willingly had the media trail them from start to finish. People were kept informed on how they travelled, what they ate and how they took a bath. 
Meanwhile, the fact that some video footage demonstrates His Majesty’s exceptional foreign language skills only emerged a few years ago, even though he had reigned for seven decades and supposedly had the best publicity mechanism at his disposal, speaks volumes about his approach.
For a man in His Majesty’s position, good deeds could have been easily magnified. This was not the case. A grieving Thailand is beginning to learn how many of his deeds were never in the limelight, and how the ones publicised did not quite reveal his unrivalled and unselfish love for the people. He paid more working visits to remote Thai villages than any Thai politician. 
Only after he passed away did we get some idea of how many times he spurred state officials to quick action when villagers needed help. While some high-profile figures would do it for the camera, he did it because he sincerely thought the people were not being assisted quickly enough.
Pid thong lang phra is a curious Thai saying. One would presume that, given the expression’s popularity, the practice of making utmost effort to help others without expecting anything in return would be normal in Thailand. The truth is, the practice is anything but common here. But His Majesty King Bhumibol Adulyadej has shown us the way, and there is no better time to follow his example than now.