Congress of the Poor and Lords of Poverty

Please pass on greetings to the Lords of Poverty who are descending upon Cambodia for the Consultative Group meeting.

Pray their first-class seats adequately prepared them for the grueling conditions of Le Royal, Grand Hotel d'Angkor, MiCasa, and the Sofitel Siem Reap.

Deepest sympathy should they accidentally encounter grisling sights of urchins roaming through heaps of trash or maimed victims begging for pocket change. Thus, please gently remind these Lords of Poverty to stay within the beautification sections of touristy Phnom Penh and Siem Reap and not to venture to the habitation of the mass, the poor.

Welcome to Cambodia!

Let not Ambition mock their useful toil,
Their homely joys, and destiny obscure;
Nor Grandeur hear with a disdainful smile
The short and simple annals of the poor.

The boast of heraldry, the pomp of pow'r,
And all that beauty, all that wealth e'er gave,
Awaits alike th' inevitable hour
The paths of glory lead but to the grave.

These famous stanzas from Thomas Gray's "Elegy Written in a Country Churchyard" serve as a reminder to me to distinguish between the roguishness of those poor in character and the simplicity of those poor in material wealth.

Cheers!,
Theary Seng