Stinky, Multi-Culti Hippies
Jay Nordlinger's most recent Impromptu contained this gem:
Jay,
I'm in the Army and do a fair amount of traveling to all parts of Asia. We were in Starbucks in Chiang Mai in northern Thailand and two stinky hippies walked into the place and ordered. Of course they left no tip. (It would have been so American.) They sit down and start commenting on how the rest of us white folks don't get a true "Thai experience." They go on to compare the beauty of everything Thai with the ugliness of everything American. I mean, they put down our healthcare system, our public-transportation system - everything.
Finally, this one well-dressed older Thai man (maybe sixties or seventies) asks the girls when they moved to Thailand. They looked perplexed, then told him they hadn't, but were there on vacation and would return home in a week. The whole time he had a smile on his face until the end when he got up to leave. He says, "Why are you in such a hurry to return to a place that treats its people so bad?" Then he walked away without waiting for an answer.
Turns out this guy worked as an interpreter for some Special Forces guys during the Vietnam War and has loved everything American ever since.
Nordlinger's only commentary: "That letter is manna from heaven." Amen.
Jay,
I'm in the Army and do a fair amount of traveling to all parts of Asia. We were in Starbucks in Chiang Mai in northern Thailand and two stinky hippies walked into the place and ordered. Of course they left no tip. (It would have been so American.) They sit down and start commenting on how the rest of us white folks don't get a true "Thai experience." They go on to compare the beauty of everything Thai with the ugliness of everything American. I mean, they put down our healthcare system, our public-transportation system - everything.
Finally, this one well-dressed older Thai man (maybe sixties or seventies) asks the girls when they moved to Thailand. They looked perplexed, then told him they hadn't, but were there on vacation and would return home in a week. The whole time he had a smile on his face until the end when he got up to leave. He says, "Why are you in such a hurry to return to a place that treats its people so bad?" Then he walked away without waiting for an answer.
Turns out this guy worked as an interpreter for some Special Forces guys during the Vietnam War and has loved everything American ever since.
Nordlinger's only commentary: "That letter is manna from heaven." Amen.