The simple act of bringing our palms together in order to ask for something good, which we call prayer, is an act that is as universal as it is inherent in the human psyche.
It is a meek and pacifying stance, weaving deference with modesty and hope for the future. It is a call for betterment in our lives amid transient meditation. It is an acknowledgment that perhaps something bigger than us may bat a benevolent eyelid in our direction.
We are in the aftermath of a terrible act of terrorism, or perhaps we should call it cowardice. In the sadness and fury we have all felt since last Monday, it is worth remembering that this act of violence was perpetrated on those who were doing nothing more than praying. Perhaps there is only one thing worse than innocent victims; and that is innocent victims in prayer.
Crazy, materialistic Bangkok is a city that sizzles with prayer. The locals are constantly doing it, owing to the mix of animism and Buddhism that has permeated and shaped Thai culture. Even the traditional greeting here looks like a prayer; surely that is no coincidence.
Dotted through the city are temples and shrines where the locals go to pray. This is the juxtaposition of Bangkok life, where the busiest of jam-packed smog-choked intersections can also be home to the most spiritual of shrines and temples.
The rituals associated with these prayers may seem foreign to the Western eye, and yet what they do is no different to what a God-fearing Christian does when he rocks up to church on a Sunday morning.
Praying was a part of my formative years. My parents told me it was good to pray just before bedtime. It wasn’t because we were that religious; with the exception of a brief period in my teens when I went a little Jesus-crazy, my family was no different to any other Australian family that worships football and cricket above any celestial deity. Being a raucous child, however, my mother figured that clasping my little hands together in silent meditation just before bed may ensure she, too, would get a good night’s sleep.