Lesson 7: The Value of Things

I am currently in Luang Prabang, Laos, and LAO-ving it here! We have been staying at a cute little guesthouse with free bananas, hot water, a cute family, and friendly local boy who speaks great English and loves playing my guitar! We have made some other friends as well that have come and gone.

One of our friends staying here at the moment, is an older man from Poland. His name is Peter, and he is traveling around shooting a documentary on life in Southeast Asia. He recently got caught in the middle of a fight and was pushed down stairs of a temple, thus injuring his leg. Lately, he has been restricted to sit outside the guesthouse since he can’t walk for a few days. I have been sitting and chatting with him about what he has learned and what he has noticed about the effects of Westerners on their culture. It’s so interesting to get an inside view on all of these areas and people. As he was showing me pictures from his travels the other evening, and telling me stories of the local people he had met along the way, there was one story that really got me.

He was sitting by one of the temples in Cambodia- not one of the main ones, but still visited by tourists. There was a man sitting outside who was playing the flute while his young daughter sang. The man was blind, and the young girl had a string from her arm to her fathers that acted as a guide for him. In his description, the man was wearing a dirty shirt, and his daughter had a rag that was wrapped around her acting as a dress. He sat and watched them for a while, and saw not one person who stopped to listen as they performed leave money for the duo.

He couldn’t help but be captivated by the beauty of this scene unfolding before him. He went up to the man and gave him 50,000 kip- which is about $6 US, but in Laos is like $100! He told him that if he came back to this place tomorrow a little earlier so there was daylight, he would give him another equal sum. The man agreed, and thanked him for his kindness.

The next day they met again at the same place, and as he walked up, he noticed that the man had bought new clothes for himself and his daughter and brought his baby as well, who was also in nice clothes. Peter laughed as he said to the man, “Why have you gone out and used the money I gave you to get new clothes?” “You did something nice for me,” replied the man, “so I wanted to return the favor and make sure we looked nice for your photo. We do not have much besides each other, and wanted to give you a gift.”

The thing was, Peter wanted to show those clothes and the simplicity of these people. By getting new clothes, the man actually ruined Peter’s idea for the picture. However, he also gave Peter a deeper look into the selfless and loving hearts of these people. The act of this man showed Peter just how much giving can return, as he was full of joy and thankful for the lesson he had learned. He said this event was the highlight of his trip and the photo he took turned out to be one of his favorites!

It’s so interesting how these people who have nothing, still take the time to give what they do have to others. Yes, the children beg, and tuk-tuk drivers try to overcharge you, but at the core, these are a very kind and giving people. Among themselves, they all work together to make money and share food. They take care of each other, work together and function as more of a whole unit- unlike the each for their own attitude we have in the US.

It really made me think, what if we worked like that? What if rather than competing against each other, we realized that one person’s success does not depend on another’s failure? What if we saw that when we give to others- not only for a tax write off, but out of pure love- that we always receive more than enough in return? What if we all knew our neighbors, looked out for them, and helped each other? How greatly could our lives be affected by such changes in perspective?

I found that the less I own, the more I have. When I had no apartment, I realized the world was my home. When I let go of my attachment to things, I found I had whatever I needed at exactly the right moment. I think about something I heard from Louise L. Hay that makes so much sense. She says that we are so worried about money and things that we will never have enough-when there is something much more vital that we rarely worry about and always have, our breath. If we can trust in this, something far more important to our existence, we should be able to trust that we will have whatever else we need as well.

The man in Peter’s story did not take the money in greed, he took it in love, and because of that, got it all back plus more- as seeing Peter giving the man $ encouraged others and the man and his children made more in tips that day than they ever had. If a man who has so little- yet always has what he needs- can still be so full of love and thanks, maybe we can be too!