It's all over the news, globally. I'm sure you heard about this unless you don't pay any attention to the news at all. I am seeing it even on major western news aggregators such as the Drudge Report so I think a person would need to be completely oblivious to what is going on in the world - perhaps living in a cave - in order to not at least be somewhat familiar with the story.
Basically 12 boys and their soccer coach have been trapped a kilometer below the surface inside a cave once monsoon rains blocked their exit. It was feared for some time that they might have drowned, but an international crew of technical divers discovered them and now 2/3 of them are already out of the cave.
So why am I writing about this? Mainly because I live in Thailand and even though I do not live near Chiang Rai (I live about as far from Chiang Rai as you can and still be in the same country) there are certain things that have changed dramatically during the time this crisis has been going on that are pretty amazing.
The outpouring of compassion for the safe return of these boys has spilled over into other aspects of humanity. I have noticed that people are just in general, being nicer and more considerate towards others. Perhaps it seems silly, but it is almost as if this "coming together" as a nation has encouraged people to just CARE MORE. I have seen this carry over even into the way people are driving. In the past few weeks I have seen people even step up their kindness towards animals. It really is a wonderful thing to witness.
People have been putting their differences aside. Thailand, as seems to be the trend in the world, has about a 50% divide in political beliefs. This is the reason why we have seen 2 coup d'etats in the brief time I have lived here. The country currently doesn't have a democratically elected government because the military took over a few years back (it was longer than that, i don't remember - nothing much changed.) However, we see a stark division of political opinions much like the constant bickering that takes place between Trump supporters and Trump haters in USA or pro-Brexit / anti-Brexit people in the UK.
Everyone has let that go in the past few weeks. It is nice to see the country realize that at the end of the day, Thais are all in this together. They can be quite a proud people and with good reason. It has been wonderful to see the political differences put aside to come together for a common cause.
Anyone with any skills are desperately trying to get to Chiang Rai to help. There have been many announcements asking the public to not attempt to come and help at the caves because people with skills in medicine, any sort of caving experience, or engineers etc rushing to get up there and do their part. However, they aren't needed as the help pool has long ago reached critical mass. It is just nice to see so many people willing to drop everything to help in any way that they can. This sort of compassion isn't always so evident.
People are being more pleasant towards foreigners too! For a certain part of the population, foreigners are kind of reviled. I'm not sure exactly why this attitude exists but it does (for a very small part of the population.) Many times these people who have disdain towards foreigners tend to live in areas heavily traveled by foreigners and also areas with a large expat population (such as where I live.) I'm not going to get into the specifics of what happens and why it happens because I don't entirely know. However, this has seemed to gone away for the time being. I suspect it is because the international community was quick to come and help when Thailand didn't have the right equipment and individuals necessary to get those kids out.
You may recall the that the diver who actually found the boys first was from the U.K. When the video of him finding the boys went viral, there were tears of joy all over the country and presumably, the world.
Since the diver didn't speak any Thai the conversation between him and the boys is actually quite touching and funny. The kids seemed to be in pretty high spirits considering they have been in complete darkness for 10 days with no food.
The King of Thailand declared that all foreign rescue workers are to be treated as personal guests of the King himself. An extremely high honor indeed - and it was touching.
Fortunately, most of the news of late has been good news - the only blemish coming from the extremely unfortunate death of an Thai ex-Navy Seal Petty Officer Saman Gunan, who ran out of air on an air delivery mission. The total journey from entrance to where the boys are trapped, is an 11-hour dive mission round-trip.
It has been wonderful to see how the country (and the world) came together in this time of crisis. It is a shame, in my mind, that it takes a crisis in order for people to be nice to one another. Maybe these good vibes and celebration can continue long after the whole thing is over. I for one am happy that it is happening now, even if it does end up being temporary.