My viewpoints towards “The Courtesies of Gentle People” book

[1] Thailand's culture has a distinguished reputation especially when it comes to Thai people's manners. Many may question when and how Thai culture was established. In my opinion, the book called “The Courtesies Of Gentle People” written in 1912 by Pia Malakun, probably is one piece of the puzzle that can tell where and how Thai people’s manners and cultures came from. “The Courtesies Of Gentle People” ‘s content is simple, it tells you how to behave gently to be a gentle person. This book has had a huge impact on Thailand in many aspects till the present day which I will describe in the next paragraphs. [2] Some of you might observe or recognize that Thai people have unique customs of how to behave example, young people need to be the first to pay respect to seniors or people of a higher rank. Another example, In Thai society, when you do some action that considers good Thai people will tell you do not wish for something in return for the good that you just did. [3] In “The Courtesies of Gentle People” one of the rules in the book state that “The younger person or the lesser rank pay respect to the elder or the higher rank first”. As you can see, there is a resemblance between the content of this book and the example I gave in paragraph 2. Even though this statement was written over a century ago, its effect still lasts among Thai society till the present day. [4] As I described earlier how the content in this book is still in effect nowadays. As a Thai person, I do personally believe that most people behave according to the book contents without a feeling of enforcement or even thinking about the book itself. The book has created a normalization among Thai society about how Thai citizens should behave if they want to be good people in society. Undoubtedly, individuals who disagreed or do not want to act like what the book says will get a judgment from Thai society that their actions are wrong. Moreover, they might get branded as uncivilized people. [5] On the one hand, this book has helped built and shape Thai people in so many ways. It would be difficult to imagine what Thailand would be like if this book doesn’t exist. Many articles in this book teach us how to be respectful, considerate, kind, and polite. Those habits of Thais become well known, especially from travelers around the world who feel welcome when they visit Thailand which makes some of them want to come back again. Therefore, the benefits of this book are not only the cultural part it also has effects on the Hospitality and industry too. [6] On the other hand, in recent years, Thai Society has moved toward the right for everyone to have equality. Even though this book might provide us with decent advice on how to be polite in Thai society, it still contains a lot of outdated content. For example, “The gentleman greets a lady first” While this might seem like a proper idea, I consider this content to be patriarchal and create inequality between genders because I believed that everyone in every gender should get treated similarly. [7] From my experience, even nowadays when I visited my grandparents, my family always told me to pay respect to my grandmother first, so I believed the sentence that I quote from the book in paragraph six is still working as I can still see this action in the present period. The relationship between Thainess and “The Courtesies of Gentle People” book. [8] In “The Courtesies of Gentle People” there are a lot of passages that say the gentle people should be patient. Therefore, lots of Thai culture and food in Thailand are very delicately made or done as being patients become a characteristic of Thai people. For example, Thai snacks like Moo Sarong or Steamed Rice Dumpling, both require time and many ingredients which are rarely found in other cultures. [9] Moreover, Thainess has a lot involved with the monarchy since the king is the head of the country. Lots of cultures have been influenced by the royal palace, remarkably food. Lots of menus in Thailand were invented by the mistress in the palace because the lady in each palace wants to impress the king with the food as much as they can also to get recognized by the king or queen or member of the royal family. [10] Another topic I consider is vital to bring up to discuss after reading this book is the social system in Thailand. Many articles in this book include respect towards the people in the higher class in Thailand society, for example in paragraph 3. This is one of the customs in Thailand that people still follow nowadays, especially in the military and the royal family. Thai citizen usually pays a lot of respect to the Royal Family as Thai citizen consider the Royal Family to be in a higher class of Thailand society than a normal citizen. As a matter of fact, Thai people believe that if you work in the government, you will have more stability in your life. Therefore, the one who got an opportunity to work in the government will sometimes consider being in the higher class due to the stability and the connection. [11] Thailand in 1912 (Siam at that time) was full of many ethnic groups all over each region of the country. Thailand ruled by King Rama 6 at that time also welcomes immigrants from all over the world. So, it is reasonable to assume that Siam society during that era would be chaotic and unorganized due to the arrival and existence of different groups of people in the country. From my perspective, one of this book's purposes is probably to create a peaceful and organized society in that era. [12] To be concluded, many parts of Thainess are resembled “The Courtesies of Gentle People” book. Thai citizens believe that good people or polite people should act according to the traditions that have been done for a long time. Moreover, some topics can be similarly seen in the book and Thainess, for example, social class, patriarchy, and seniority. Those are the signals that there is a relationship between Thainess and The Courtesies of Gentle People in some aspects of culture. Adaptation of Thainess in the Hospitality industry. [13] As I will be working in the hospitality industry in the future, I found that this book has a lot of advantages to learn from. Many messages in “The Courtesies of Gentle People” book is about being a polite, gentle, and respectful person which we all know that those characteristics are very important in the services field. In this type of career, we always need a service mind, and it is not the sense that everyone has. However. Thainess has many involved with people behavior, it teaches us to respect other people, teach us to behave gentle, teach us to think about others, all these examples are an essential personality that I think the one who works in this the hospitality field should have. [14] Moreover, Thainess has its uniqueness, therefore, if I had a chance to work in a hotel domestically or internationally, it would be a pleasure for me to share this idea with guests for both Thai and Foreign customers. For instance, Thai cuisine which is a part of Thainess is a very popular cuisine around the world so it would be an uplift in experience if I can explain to the client the history behind each dish from what I learned in Thainess. Not only for the food but there are also other many parts of Thainess that I think will be beneficial in the hospitality industry Tradition in Thailand are unique. For example, the way we pay respect to others or as we called “Wai”. This action cannot be found anywhere else in the world so when guests visited Thailand, they feel special by the gesture that they have never seen before. [15] As I talked earlier about the class system and the seniority system in Thailand, I describe them negatively. However, when looking at the work system in the hospitality field I believed that those seniority and class systems could be beneficial and even make me feel easily adapt to the hotel management environment. We know that the management system in hotels is the pyramid one, every staff reports to the general manager. Therefore, understanding the seniority system would help me easily respect and adapt to the chain of command. [16] To summarized, Thainess is an important part of Thai society because it is based on what Thai societies are about from our food to our beliefs. In “The Courtesies of Gentle People” book there are many parts that help build the characteristics of Thainess and some of it is still lasting till these days. Although, some of the aspects in Thainess can consider being obsolete and in contradiction of what the younger generation believes in, it is still significant to realize the benefits of it which can be used to adapt in the work environment, particularly in the Hospitality sector.