As he always has, His Majesty the King put the nation before himself even on his birthday on Monday.
He lifted the hearts of all Thais, but especially the large crowd that had gathered to catch a glimpse when he came out of Siriraj Hospital.
His appearance in front of the entire nation on the balcony of the Chakri Throne Hall was emotional and remarkable. While all his subjects celebrated the seventh cycle birthday of His Majesty, the king was thinking of the country.
His call for national unity in the face of this year's terrible floods should be heeded _ immediately.
It would be worthwhile to follow the advice of the king on Monday as a token of the esteem he holds in all Thai hearts.
He stated that his words about the floods "are only recommendations, not an order". It could be a gift to His Majesty on the very auspicious occasion.
But there is a more important, vital reason to heed and follow the advice of the monarch. That is because he is right.
His Majesty has given several serious recommendations about this year's great floods, and in his speech from the balcony on Monday morning, he essentially summarised them into three points.
The first is that the flooding is not over, and there remain many victims; they must be helped as the first, urgent priority.
There is a fast growing tendency to think that the crest of the floods and high tides have passed, so that's that. Homes, farms, villages and communities remain under the insufferably polluted, stagnant floods.
Yet the government's Flood Relief Operations Command (Froc) insisted last week that it was time to wrap up its operations.
Tens of thousands of people need aid, and the agency which supposedly is directing the entire effort to help flood victims wants to pack up and leave.
His Majesty then mentioned the second, necessary step. For a long time, successive governments have paid a little lip service to proper, national water management.
The country has paid the price for ignoring the problem _ in 1983, in 1995 and now again.
Until now, the idea of a countrywide, sustainable plan for water management has been waved aside by most ministers, civil servants and qualified academics.
As the king said, Thailand needs "to quickly solve the problem" and come up with sustainable projects, which are both effective and cost-effective.
And finally, there is the binding that is needed to achieve the twin goals: unity. There is no shortage of people in this country dedicated to this ideal. Over the past two months, one only had to look around to see Thais selflessly helping Thais.
The resourcefulness and resilience of the Thai people was tested _ and achieved. What His Majesty wants, and what most people want, is to approach national problems like water management with a single mind, to do what is best for the country.
There is no shortage of people dedicated to unity to achieve national goals. There have recently been too many, however, dedicated to wringing every last political point out of every action of every government.
Calmer heads on all sides need to counsel and cool the extreme viewpoints. There is a time for tough politics, and a time to let it rest.
Setting a national goal of integrated water management is realistic. Once again, His Majesty has given his subjects wise advice. We need to take it.
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