Pedestal

This may be a somewhat obvious statement to make but there are an innumerable amount of Buddhist Monks in Asia. As one might expect they are always dressed in robes, sport shaved heads, leather thongs on their feet and wear an aura of peacefulness and tranquillity. Some can be seen wandering down the same street you are, shopping in the same shops and eating the same food. Most, though, are to be found in their rightful and peaceful place in temples and monasteries, which is where one’s stereotypical ideals of Monks can be fulfilled. I have come to realise that I dislike seeing them in any other place other than where I feel they belong and, if they are not in this place, it does not seem right. The tiny amount of Chi that I imagine I possess is immediately affected; something is out of place and my illusion of them is ruined. Perhaps my use of the word illusion suggests that the image of the Monk itself does not actually exist. But it does exist. More accurate, though, the image has been idealistically embellished through photography for the rest of the world - the tourist world. The problem, though, is that I want to hold them in such high regard as purveyors of harmony and serenity so as to fit the whole concept into a neat little box. I do not want to see them in any other place than a temple or monastery so as not to ruin the illusion or mystique carried by them. In much the same way, when I was in Lower School, I remember being devastated when I saw my teacher in the Coop doing her food shop. She was carrying out a normal everyday chore and seeing this ruined my perception - a perception that I, myself, had unfairly created of her. It is easy to put people on such a pedestal and when we do this we are immediately setting them up for a fall. But this is human nature and perhaps to create these perceptions about others is to make us feel secure and better about ourselves. Or conceivably it just serves to give us something to which we can aspire. Either way, I will try to remember that they are all human after all, just like you and I.