Match
Gao and Aria are facing one another, their masks a sign or two of apprehension: an understanding that they're sick with the fear of being arrested, so the masks are for the creation of a figurative sun in the eyes of the powerful onlooking authoritarian figures of the time. Their removal would invite darkness into the women's world, discarding comfort like the fabric is soft helping hands they'd be letting go of until Frozen [3.].
'Make sure you don't lie to people about the value of medicinal substances like food,' Aria says.
'You think I don't know what I'm talking about?' Gao asks.
'Do you even have a bachelor's degree in nutrition?' Aria asks.
'I don't need one,' Gao replies. 'If food makes me feel good then I know it's good for me.'
'That's not smart,' Aria says. 'Think about sugar, or even cocaine. Think about fasting for a day and then how absolutely anything would make you feel good.'
'The problem is that people don't know what to do with drugs,' Gao says. 'Imagine if people replaced illicit drugs with traditional Chinese medicine when the substances were being taken from Pakistan to Saudi Arabia. This could save the lives of thousands of poor Pakistanis [1.]. You can't tell me that's not a good outcome.'
'That is good,' Aria says. 'But the Chinese medicine would have to be valuable - hence rare like shark fins - to be an appealing replacement for illicit substances. It's best if people just know how to read. That's why there should be writing on mouth masks. At least one word on each. A mask can either be green for positive words (that's a complete play on optimism to be sure, if we can say what we like) or red for negative words. People should see words everywhere that relate to nutrition. Red words are those used to name unhealthy substances, green to name healthy ones, and orange to name those that are not too bad. It's important that people learn to associate shapes with colors from a young age, so that they notice when a color is used incorrectly. The colors to add a further dimension to the words should be universal (but not black, or simply from white stars). Black or white words should be viewed with suspicion, like the world of someone wearing a mouth mask and watching the world go by. That way everyone is on the same page: undercover and curious, always questioning the information they're provided with if it's apparently black-and-white.'
'So eventually, associating colors with words would be a standard part of reading,' Gao says. 'That means a modified version of the Stroop test could be employed to check whether Pakistani drug traffickers can read. If not then there is a good possibility that they were taken advantage of [1.] when they left their country alone (they didn't even touch any country, let alone land in a bad way, so why must they end up six feet under?).'
'That's the key,' Aria says. 'Productive partnerships. Encourage working thinking about trust (thinking for good on the job and in the future). Pakistanis need smart female partners to read to them. Like aspiring Chinese doctors, or nurses if the Pakistani wants to hang out with three women rather than just one. Pakistanis need nurses [4.]. A productive partnership - Pakistani men as laborers and Chinese women as nurses or doctors - should be a prerequisite for entry into Saudi Arabia for work, along with an agreement that they will eventually move to either Pakistan or China to work upon completion of their work in Saudi Arabia. (Partnerships with more than a single dating agency are also vital. More than single [for one; honest; with only two leaders, CEOs] dating agency competitive partnerships are required). A long-distance working relationship between Chinese nurses and their patients in China is possible if patients are patient: Saudi and Chinese patients can in fact be figuratively paired in threesomes, foursomes or moresomes if presenting with similar conditions or symptoms.'
'A bachelor's degree is not as important as reading and comprehension,' Gao says. 'What's important is for people to have someone they can turn to in a time of need. How can a piece of paper or mouth mask be more valuable than trust? We could remove them, and talk, and know that we'll be there for each other no matter what happens.'
_____________________
References
1 The Economist | Junk bondage https://www.economist.com/node/21779318?frsc=dg%7Ce, ["Labour is one of Pakistan’s biggest exports and Saudi Arabia has for decades offered work to poor Pakistanis. The kingdom plays host to 2.7m Pakistanis, more than any other country. Remittances from Saudi Arabia to Pakistan are projected to reach $2.6bn this year. Yet despite the importance of these workers to the economy, campaigning lawyers say, the government is doing too little to shield them from exploitation. Some 3,200 Pakistani convicts languish in Saudi jails, many on drugs charges."; "“These people are small fish, these are people who do not know how to read, they have never left the country, they don’t know what a passport is.”"]
2 The Economist | Under observation https://www.economist.com/node/21779302?frsc=dg%7Ce, ["...the World Health Organisation says half of China’s doctors do not have a bachelor’s degree. Among those in villages and small towns, only 10-15% do. Some practise traditional Chinese medicine, a form of treatment that has government approval but little scientific basis (stocks of an oral liquid based on such medicine have been flying off shelves since a recent report by Xinhua, an official news agency, that it can “suppress” the virus). There is also an acute shortage of nurses. The average in rich countries is three per doctor. In China it is only one."]
3 Demi Lovato - Let It Go (from "Frozen") (Official Video), https://youtu.be/kHue-HaXXzg
4 Naya Daur, Pakistan Faces Acute Shortage Of Nurses. 1.3 Million More Needed, https://nayadaur.tv/2019/05/pakistan-faces-acute-shortage-of-nurses-1-3-million-more-needed/
Live Thai
*Based on true events, Monday February 10, in Central Plaza Ladprao, Bangkok*
'They're present when your head's lighter than the dark period of a journey,' Aria says, noticing a Thai nurse or two entering the dim house. 'Headlights. Impact. It's hard to know just how light until it's heavy enough to get you on more than your knees (there's a heavy body the passage brings to life, taken down). You find yourself on the ground, surrounded by passers-by, like surround sound now has a physical presence. That's a new record for you: a single dizzy spell (no album necessary), wandering around like a wand that's walking (who's in control now?), fueled by loneliness and isolation if we're to take a bad break, for instance. Get it? The effect of the fall. But the fuel that enables the rapid descent can be fanned away by the generous Thai women now present: generators (for generations) of a better warmth than the crippling heat of the Thai day, holders of cheap but effective fans that figuratively push away that fuel that keeps people down in the West, for the sake of a newly assured resting mind and body separated from the scent that may have caused the blackout: it's light outside now.
'So there you lie, a busted bag on your back, on your back, in the bustling quarters of the thriving Thai marketplace of Central Plaza Ladprao, Bangkok. And there they stand or squat, the women attracted to you specifically because you look down, and really . . . and you are, I think that's as clear as the chemicals in the tiny bottles they offer you, for the nose. That's for you to be up (exciting?). Everything cheap, everything available: this isn't just an apt description of the marketplace but also the health care in Thailand. In the States, over a trillion dollars a year goes toward health-insurance [2.] that's barely ensured, and the prices of drugs are through the roof [2.]: but you long to simply get up now, and this simple and cheap liquid is the perfectly adequate means, along with sugar - ironically, that is indeed cheap in the States, but therefore not the drug marketed by drug companies.
'Price lists here are not closely guarded [2.]: aid and sugar are FREE. Everyone is up. The nurses come up in no time (not guards but helpers, much like light angels), the treatment is targeted (you're the one white pill in the
