Floods, in Thailand, happen for a reason. Taking innocents as collateral, they wash us of our political colors, rejenuvate our sense of nationhood and reaffirm our Thainess. How? Namjai. It doesn’t matter if it’s a bucket to a monk, or a goody bag to a flood victim. (The folks in Nakhon Ratchasima better like condensed milk, because they’re going to get enough cans to die of diabetes before their backyard even gets a chance to dry.) To give is to participate in the great cosmic experience of being Thai.Maybe the Bangkok Post is taking issue with the golf courses and property developments that completely ruined Nakhon Ratchasima’s flood prevention measures. But most people will never read that. They will see Channel 3’s selfless acts, where reporters handed out Channel 3-branded plastic bags of goodies or actual 1,000 baht bills to tearful grandmothers. They will hear the government promise billions. They will see our army at work.In short, Bangkok will deliver its message loud and clear: “See, you burned our pretty malls but we forgive you, one 10 baht SMS at a time. We have no hard feelings. Just don’t forget you’d be nothing without our generosity, without us swooping down from our Heavenly City of Angels to bail you from acts of God. Don’t forget, that without namjai, there is no Kingdom, no Thai people, no nothing. Don’t forget that we are all one, whether you like it or not.”Yes, we even suspect that there must have been cheers of jubilation when the water blocks caved in, at the Ministry of Communication and Magic, in military cabinets, maybe even at the SET. After what had frankly been a very dull couple of news weeks with little in the way of political protests, terror alerts or even international border disputes to report on, finally, the nation’s hysteria levels were once again on the rise. With the deluge, generals, editors and business-owners can breathe easy knowing that we all feel that doomsday is fast approaching again and we need to spend our days protected by men with guns, happily spending our last baht on new phones and donuts while we still can. With the flood, we can all be Thai again.Support the flood victims with these ideas, ranging from texting to fund-raising parties: http://bit.ly/a6QK7w