OPINION

Be self-sufficient

Re: "A new narrative needed on getting rich", (Opinion, Jan 17). The article "A new narrative needed on getting rich" does a major disservice to the readers and the message is a major contributor to the issues surrounding wealth.

By stressing that the solution is to simply get more money and that money is the major factor of self-worth and social validation only perpetuates the wealth gap.

There is another way to be "wealthy" and this ideal was heavily promoted by His Majesty King Bhumibol Adulyadej The Great.

That is self-sufficiency! Spending less is another avenue to increase wealth -- but sufficiency was not even mentioned. If you had a garden and easily raised 80% of your food, used solar power for generating your own energy (and selling the excess), had your own water source or well-how much would you really need to make to meet your needs? If you bought practical and economic items with regards to vehicles and clothing instead of striving for luxury items-again how much would you need to earn?

When you consider that most of the luxury consumer items are not from Thailand, keeping consumerism focused on the local level would also boost the economy and income of the population.

So how about listening to His Majesty King Bhumibol Adulyadej The Great King Rama IX and creating a Sufficiency Economy, instead of a Capitalism Economy.

Re: "Thanathorn under fire for jumping vaccine queue", (BP, Jan 17).

My heart goes out to Thanathorn Juangroongruangkit, for being in hot water as a result of allegations that he used his wealth and privilege to jump queue to get a Covid-19 vaccine shot ahead of others half a year ago.

However, I think what brought Mr Thanathorn into his present situation might have something to do with his "karma".

Karma is the sum of a person's past actions -- intentionally or otherwise to hurt other people -- that boomerangs back on him later on.

Thus, my advice to Mr Thanathorn is this: "Calm down; get a hold on yourself, and change your attitudes and actions a little bit".

Sometimes, a change in perspective can help.

So another by-election is upon us and the candidates are doing their usual thing of slapping up posters all over the place which, in many cases, impedes a driver's view of traffic coming off another street.

They also hire trucks mounted with the largest and noisiest speakers they can find and blare out their spiel on a daily basis. But here in the Laksi area, one candidate has taken it a step further. This candidate feels that people should start hearing his mindless noise (vote for beure jet, vote for beure jet, vote for beure jet) starting at 7.30am and it is annoying to say the least.

So what to do? Well, my Thai wife is always asking me who to vote for when elections roll around since I am more knowledgeable about the candidates than she is. So I advise her. This time around, I am advising her of who not to vote for and I am sure many others in my development feel the same way.