I was awoken this morning by a phone call from the Pa Tom (step-father-in-law) saying that Ma Song is in the hospital. After a morning of phone calls, it seems she is awaiting surgery on a stomach tumor. Obviously this is upsetting, especially for Pocky who has just dropped me at work and headed toward Kalasin to the hospital. I am sketchy on the details, but Ma Song is not the picture of health – she smokes and coughs a fair deal. Only last week she had been staying with us and complained of a stomachache.
At times like these the small Matt can’t help but to stick his head up and be heard. I gave Pok 5000bht (150$) to the hospital. Ma is covered by some sort of government insurance scheme for poor people, but there are always hidden costs with this kind of thing. Of course I foot the bill. I used to donate to charities and like many in the first world, felt pretty damn altruistic and noble in doing so. I still contribute to charity, though now it is a highly personal charity of my wife and her family. Sometimes I get the same warm feeling of helping people out that I got when giving to charitable organizations, sometimes it’s just a strain. Unlike the World Wildlife Fund, when the demands for money aren’t convenient I can’t just throw the donation form in the bin.
As long as I am bringing in a first world salary the cost of supporting Pok, her mother, father and by extension some others (stepfathers, aunts, uncles, cousins) who they live with isn’t much more than a couple of good nights out in Japan. Not too much of a sacrifice in Japan. But I’m not there now. It makes me question the viability of coming back here later. As long as her family is around I will be susceptible to unexpected financial burdens.
The small Matt dominates the bigger me and I probably will die having lived like most men, large brain performing small arithmetic for too many of my waking hours. A money grubber whose sole preoccupation is cerebral currency counting, I’ll pass my life hunched over a computer or calculator in a feeble chase after the dollar/yen/baht. Not much more to say on that subject. I hope Ma Song gets well.