My village at that time.
     Let me tell you a little of my village at that time, there were no televisions to speak of and people  honestly believed they were rich. The rice fields produced more than enough for all, the trees were hung with friut and the rivers teemed with fish. No one went hungery. If hard times befell, your family and everyone was related in some way, would help. The village of about 370 homes had 2 cars, both pickup trucks. One owned by the father in law and the other by the village headman. Most people had never seen a white man and the children would run and hide or burst into tears when they saw me. The elderly would walk up and rub my arm to see if the colour came off. It was a place that time and even Coca cola had passed by, a hippies dream. Now I am no hippie far from it, at the time I was a Prison Officer in the State of Victoria, Australia and had worked for much of the time in the states maximum security prison. Those who say there are no monsters in this world, let me tell you there are.
     At this point I will tell anyone who actually reads this a  story. Short time before I came to Thailand I was involved in an incident which may have changed my life,
. While on duty in a place we referred to as under the house. An area which contained 26 the most vile specimens of human life that Australia can produce. At the time a one man post. The job of laundryman was given to a prisoner, said prisoner had a sentence of 25 years on the bottom, meaning no parole for 25 years. Now another prisoner who was never going home wanted that job. You may think in your world it is a dog eat dog world, but in this world it's real. Want to be laundryman thinks he can have the job if he kills the  laundryman. I having many years experience in this and similar fields know that tension was high and that something was going  down, so I place myself  not at my desk, but in a place I can observe a wider area . Laundryman is on the phone not more than 3 feet [1 meter ] from me. Want to be laundry man is so focused on what he wants to do he doesn't even see me. Want to be laundryman then punches laundryman in the head. I of cause jump up to break up the fight. In the tussle we all ended up on the ground, which is when I notice that laundryman is spurting blood in my face. Want to be laundryman had not punched laundryman, but stabbed him in the throat with a shive [ knife ]. fight or flight reflexes come into place and I began to smash want to be laundrymans head into the floor until he stopped moving and I get the shive. Little did I know that laundry man also had a shiv as well. There is no capital punishment in Australia, so if either had stabbed and killed me the worst that could have happened to them, except for some rough treatment by other Officers is the loss of TV for 30 days. Here is the crux of this story, it is compulsory after an incident to see the shrink [ psychologist ] which I duly attended the next day after filling in all the paper work. The shrink went over the incident with me and said how do you feel. I said I have been involved and seen  worst things and feel fine, just another day on the job. he then said something that made me sit and think for a long time afterward. A NORMAL PERSON WOULD NOT FEEL FINE.