Met Som Jit Again

Yesterday as I was photographing a young girl next to a old wall a man walked up with a masked face and stuck out his hand. I shook the hand not realizing who it was (everyone here sticks out their hand to me), after looking at the eyes more closely above the masked lower face (sort of masked like villains in the old west) I realized the man was Khune Som Jit.

Som Jit is the honorable man I wrote of before who had his face damaged in a fire. The mask must be there to help him get customers for his motorcycle taxi business, he also probably does not want people staring at him.

It seems Khune Som Jit had come back to his home to help deliver his son to school before returning to work and saw me so came up to say hi before leaving. I told him I might not be back to Klong Toey for 3 or 4 months maybe longer but that I would bring him some of the photos I shot at that time. I also told him I would be going up North to Chiang Mai and Chiang Rai and possibly Laos as well. Som Jit understood me and nodded, as the words came out of my mouth I realized a man like Som Jit no matter how hard he works will never be able to enjoy a simple trip like I am doing to Northern Thailand, to visit a foreign country even one very close like Laos was also impossible for him. Something I take for granted and talk about without thinking about a man like Som Jit could never do. He will continue to live in his slum shack, continue day after day to drive his motorcycle around Bangkok making a few dollars a day, his life will not change. The things I enjoy, the places I will see and the people I will meet will never happen for Som Jit, he will never have the chances or the opportunities I accept and boast about without thinking.