Thai Smiles, Part 32: A Video Clip

Most would agree that children are our hope for the future. Let's just hope we're instilling enough intelligence in them to undo some of the damage we've done to this large blue marble we live on. As marble games go it seems we're perilously close to being knocked out of the playing circle, but that's not the thought behind today's post so I'll gingerly step down off my soap box.

In Herb Gardner's play "A Thousand Clowns" a children's entertainer makes the comment that children are too honest to be wise, and it's something I've thought about countless times when I've observed kids in school, at home or at play in countries I've visited. There's a purity of innocence and carefree trust that's still free of the skepticism, cynicism and fear that tend to twist many of us as we're bumped around by life. Their resilience is both impressive and enviable, and I admire that quality in them.

While I'm out walking and photographing everyday life in Thailand I see children in many settings: at play with each other, sitting near their parent's food cart on the sidewalk, digging on the beach, helping a family member around their home, etc. Being the outsider and looking as foreign as I must to them it surprises me how easily they smile for my camera. Frankly, if some strange looking person at least twice my size loomed over me with a Nikon the size of a bread box and tried to get me to smile I'd probably be looking for something to strike them with, but then I've long ago lost the trust of innocent youth.

While going through images a few days ago in a somewhat gloomy mood I noted a number of them with kids in them, smiling at me from my monitor. The more of them I saw, the more my mood improved. I created a folder and began copying some of them into it, and enjoyed seeing them grouped together enough myself to figure they were worth sharing with you. The video up top was created using some of the photos. A sort of elixir for the spirit, if you will.

I hope it makes a bright spot in your day.