everyone's sugar's sweet

today, the hubby & i went to the thai temple to make merits to honour his late grandfather, who would have been 100 today. this was our first outing there and we were unsure of how today's events would transpire. having lived in thailand and with my husband being thai, we both still seemed at a loss of how to proceed. luckily, we met a younger monk (probably a bit younger than us) who provided some guidance. j and i stepped inside and immediately i felt like i was in familiar territory, with the large statue of buddha greeting me and with the thai tapestry and the king & queen's pictures lining the walls.

after we made our offering, we were invited by the monk to go downstairs to have a look around. it turns out they taught thai language classes there and we were encouraged to attend next week by the teachers we had just met. small world, she taught at the same elementary school my husband went to! it was great to just sit around and talk about the commonalities they had and i was happy to be able to recall little references that i knew about.

shortly after our discussion, we were honoured when the อาจารย์ ("ah-chan" = teacher, professor. in this case, the senior monk) joined our table. what happened next is something that i liken to what would an audience with god would be like. i was inspired by hearing him speak about the teachings of buddhism, the lessons that can be learned in life and how these lessons are evident in all religions. "everyone's sugar's sweet", he said. i smiled when he said it. it was so true and given the state of affairs in the middle east, it's a simple message that gets so incredibly lost amidst the violence. and as we also prepare for one of the greatest moments in american history, it's also a relevant statement regarding the ugly truth about america's struggle with racism.

in recent years, i've had internal conflicts with the teachings of my religion versus the ideal of being a good person leading a good life. i still consider myself to be a child of god and count many of my blessings to have come from him. yet at the same time, i am intrigued greatly by the words i heard today and by the gentle man who delivered them.

we've decided to go back next week, if just at first to get my family in closer touch with their heritage and to begin studying the language. i can't make any predictions about anything else, but it was nice to have confirmation that everyone's sugar's sweet.