No matter where you go to Hash in the world, there is a near certainty that the events that take place will be intentionally very silly. It is part of the fun and I believe it is part of the reason why most of our members have better mental health than a lot of people who are not in the Hash House Harriers.
Sure, we have to be serious about so many things in life but at times I find that it is very important to embrace your inner child. This is not something you can do in public without being branded a weirdo or potentially getting arrested so when the chance arrives at a Hash event, we embrace it.
All of our shirts, all of our awards, and all of our collectibles are intentionally over the top and look like something that a small child would enjoy wearing or using. The thing is, adults enjoy this sort of goofiness as well, we just aren't allowed to partake in it as we get older. In that regard the HHH is a wonderful way of keeping us young, no matter how old we happen to be.
If anyone dresses too serious or commits the horrible crime of wearing some sort of name-brand shirt like Nike, they will definitely be punished for this. Our clothes are supposed to be impractical and of course, gaudy as hell. Our awards are rated R as well and well, we do not down the dildo necklaces when children are in attendance. However, we do inform everyone that children are allowed to attend but we will not modify our activities because of their presence. We have a wide array of awards that nobody really wants and most of them are home-made as well. The toilet seat necklace and bedpan drinking apparatus are two of my favorites. Of course these things are kept very clean because we are not insane, we just like having fun.
newcomers might find our rituals a bit shocking but in a roundabout sort of way, that is the intention. By taking things to a completely insane degree, any sort of out of the ordinary behavior sort of seems tame.
This isn't to say that we are a lewd group of reprehensible people though, it is actually quite the opposite. Just like how Harley Davidson owners are normally very successful people in their real lives, we all return to acting normal once the events are over. Just in our ranks here in Chiang Mai we have ex US Federal agents, many ex military, Wall Street banker types, as well as one guy that once held a rather high office in politics. Almost all of us have families and children as well. Basically we are all quite successful and had to wear things like suits and commute to work for many years being as serious as possible for most of our lives and now we get to let loose a bit. It really is a lot of fun to be around a bunch of people who are in their 50's and 60's who behave like a bunch of 2nd graders in their foolishness.
So prepare yourself if you ever come to join us, which I think you should. You are going to be in for a treat if you enjoy some rather strange fun, and you will be shocked if you think you are joining some sort of serious running group.
On On!
