In a small village called Ban Bang Po in Thailand, I met a man
who did not have a smile on all the time, the way most Thai people
seem to have. Yet despite not smiling that often, he said
he was very happy with his life and enjoying his time.

He said he is married with a nagging wife and a grown
daughter.

He smokes quite heavily and his brand of choice is the red L&M's.
You know he's a "real" smoker when he gets up "in between" a meal
to have a smoke! :-)

His life philosophy as I interpreted his stern and confident Thai
accent was:


"I was in the ICU twice. I have heart problems. Blood sugar (diabetes) problems.
Yeah, I'll do what the doctor says, but I'll keep smoking. I enjoy my cigarettes.

If I die today, ok. I just want to enjoy my life my way. Heck, I should've been dead
a long time ago and I'm damned 60 already!"

Coming from a health obsessed society such as the USA, it was good to see
a man like this who was too busy enjoying his life with a "damn the consequences"
attitude, rather than worry about his health every other minute the way I and a lot
of other people seem to do. Might not be the wisest choice, but then again, maybe it
is because he seemed very content.

Unfortunately, I could not remember his name which is why he is the "Thai Mr. Miyagi"
because that was the first person I thought of when I saw him :-)