The Thai Man's Burden

Over a century ago, a little known Brit by the name of Rudyard Kipling, Rudy Kip to his friends, wrote a poem entitled "The White Man's Burden". The poem lays out the West's need, burden if you will, to colonize those countries believed to be less civilized and developed. Decades of development have shown just how ridiculous the poem is and allowed present generations to focus on Rudy's more lasting contributions, such as the Jungle Book.
Although difference in content, I've discovered a phenomenon here in Thailand that fits well with the title of Kip's 1899 work and I have taken the liberty of dubbing in "The Thai Man's Burden". A common form of transportation here in Thailand are songthaews ("two rows" in English), small pickup trucks with benches lining the bed for passengers to sit on. Whereas buses are fit to transport individuals across the city and between neighborhoods, songthaews are ideal for intra-neighborhood transport.
It is not uncommon for us to catch a songthaew to get to a larger bus stop or to shorten the commute between home and a restaurant. Yet every time we set foot in one of them, business for the driver immediately drops off. I'd love to be able to say that it is because Thais are so kind as to cater to our every need, but that'd be ridiculous. As gracious as Thais may be, they're still rational. No, the problem is that other Thai passengers won't get on. Despite the driver's efforts to coax passengers into the back of his truck with constant honking, no one wants any part of it. It would be great it I could write this off simply as coincidence, but given the numerous times it has occurred, I can't.
I harbor no bad feeling against Thai's not wanting to ride with us or simply waiting for another songthaew, of which there are plenty. I also don't pity myself, a rare occurrence to be sure. Instead I feel bad for the songthaew driver who is forced to shoulder the burden of a couple of farang, at the expense of other passengers, until we reach our destination. So if any Thai songthaew drivers in Thonburi are reading this, here it is, an open apology for the loss of revenue caused by any and all farang during the past 5 months and the coming 2 months. Anything outside of those boundaries, well, I can't be held responsible for that.