outsummit 2016 Tag

21 Nov In Our Hands – Poem by Paisarn Likhitpreechakul of Thailand

They say … That each is born owing to their past karma, Distinguishing a dignitary from a lowly farmer… That in our past lives we must have been sinners, So in this one we can never be winners… That society works like a hand with unequal fingers, While we are an excess digit that lingers.   But we won’t be fooled that this impeaching Discrimination is the wise Buddha’s teaching. Society is made by the hands of many, To which we contribute no less than any. The hands of a kathoey* are no cruder Nor less human than those of the Buddha.   There’s no distinction that can separate us, Whether tribe, rank, age, gender or any status. All primordial hands were imprinted equal In the Americas, Africa, Asia, Europe and Australia, Before Hammurabi inscribed his stele legal And sovereignty was invented in Westphalia.   Our hands that have wiped oceans of tears And trembled in handcuffs under mountains of fears Like those fighting...