by MoodyMac » Wed Apr 18, 2012 1:13 pm
I was thinking about monks in Cambodia last night.
In a way it's unfair to judge them too harshly due to the fact that they are often from poor backgrounds and they are just taking whatever small opportunity they have. I have had a couple of staff working here that were monks at one stage of their live, and they were both good guys. Funnily enough the two staff I have who stand out in regard to punctuality and work ethic are both Mormons. Unfortunately one of them will have to do his 2 year missionary service soon and I will have to find a replacement. The other one will become night shift supervisor of her department.
What a fascinating place to work though. Having staff who are ex monks, Mormons, 7th day Adventists, Buddhists, ceremonies to appease the ghosts and spirits, cooking chickens for the spirits in thanks for the flood waters receding etc......
And me an accidental missionary chef with an Anglican baptism and affirmation, an anarchistic outlook, and a with secularist education skepticism who tries to keep an open mind toward the supernatural, but thinks that at least 95% of it is baloney.
One of the reasons I love Cambodia. It's a fascinating place, with a turbulent past, a melting pot of Hindu, Animist, and Buddhist ideas with a slice of Islam, and an increasing amount of western religious and secular ideas pouring in, and a hardy, mostly tolerant and friendly population.
I was thinking about monks in Cambodia last night.
In a way it's unfair to judge them too harshly due to the fact that they are often from poor backgrounds and they are just taking whatever small opportunity they have. I have had a couple of staff working here that were monks at one stage of their live, and they were both good guys. Funnily enough the two staff I have who stand out in regard to punctuality and work ethic are both Mormons. Unfortunately one of them will have to do his 2 year missionary service soon and I will have to find a replacement. The other one will become night shift supervisor of her department.
What a fascinating place to work though. Having staff who are ex monks, Mormons, 7th day Adventists, Buddhists, ceremonies to appease the ghosts and spirits, cooking chickens for the spirits in thanks for the flood waters receding etc......
And me an accidental missionary chef with an Anglican baptism and affirmation, an anarchistic outlook, and a with secularist education skepticism who tries to keep an open mind toward the supernatural, but thinks that at least 95% of it is baloney.
One of the reasons I love Cambodia. It's a fascinating place, with a turbulent past, a melting pot of Hindu, Animist, and Buddhist ideas with a slice of Islam, and an increasing amount of western religious and secular ideas pouring in, and a hardy, mostly tolerant and friendly population.