Sabaydii,

 

Here is the continuation of a series ‘Coming home’ entitled ‘Dara Samut[1]’

 

Hakphaang,

 

 

Getting out of Wat That Phun ground

I passed by Dara Samut

The school I almost went there

 

Dad told me

There was no place left

So instead

I went to the public school at Thadeua[2]

A break from the quality Catholic schools

I always attended

 

Long time I may be in Catholic school

Never for once I was a Catholic

But a follower of Buddha

Like my parents

And the long line of our ancestors

 

Like they say

Education is the ticket to a better future

A better life

But what goes deeper

Is what brought us here

The wisdom that imparts in us

And the strength that carries us on

 

Sad to say

Not a few of our best minds

Educated in the Christian tradition

Nourished by the western education

Came to belittle

What was theirs to start with

 

Wonder

If any of the Pathet Lao elite

Didn’t wet their lips with western education

Or Marxist to be exact

 

What afflicted Muang Lao

Would be but a bad dream

Once opening our eyes

All vanished into the thin air

 

With my eyes on the kids

Filing into that school

I hope

They wouldn’t repeat

What mistakes their parents

And grandparents had unintentionally gone through

 

9.29.03