In Reply to: Names posted by Rex on Tuesday, 15. February 2005 at 16:25 Bali Time:
Hi Rex
I know how I feel personally on most of the stories I hear, and especially your son's situation.
Many years ago my son came home with a Vietnamese girlfriend and initially my wife found it hard to come to grips with (& I was probably in two minds myself). Eventually I just stood back a little & considered that in Rotary we accept all races and religions & treat them as equal, so where was the difference when it was our own children involved. Simple, there was no difference. In fact, my wife and I had been guardians for many Thai children attending school here in Oz, and we fully accepted those kids (& now their wives and families) as our own. So we were just being hypocritical. My son's relationship with that girl went on for quite a few years and I was just so sad when he broke it off. She would have made the daughter-in-law that I would be very proud of.
In Bali my wife and I run a project assisting around 275 children gain an education, and many, many forumites are an extremely important part of that project. A very important part of that project, to my way of thinking, is to foster and promote international peace, goodwill and understanding. It would be very easy for me to promote the westerization of the schools and children. However, I choose to stand back from doing that because I don't feel I should interfere with another culture. It is a little like religion, I suppose. We all believe OUR religion is THE religion, but we each respect each others choice.
Bali's culture has taken a very long time to reach where it is today, and it's one of the things that endears itself to us. We can destroy that very quickly if we are not mindful and careful.
Cheers
Noel (getting off his soapbox)