Big Dreams Never Run Smooth
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It is interesting to me how transformative Moh Moh's emails are. Several months ago, I was pining away in an email to her about not getting an additional job that I wanted. I didn't want to cut into my retirement savings and windup robbing Peter to pay Paul. Nevertheless, I did want to return to Myanmar (Burma) and attempt again to interview Daw Aung San Suu Kyi, the Lady. A day or two later, Moh Moh replied with an email which sounded like Don Quixote giving me advice. I kid you not; that single email revitalized me. I felt invigorated and went back to dreaming the impossible dream of interviewing the Lady.
Several weeks ago, I received another email from Moh Moh. In my previous email, I mentioned that the American Embassy and the government in Myanmar said that it would take quite a while to hear from the Lady's office. In response, Moh Moh wrote this reply.
My response to Moh Moh was as much my being forced to put all my thoughts down psychologically regarding who I was as it was addressing her email.
Moh Moh knows two things about me. First, being able to sit down with Daw Aung San Suu Kyi will be the most important thing that I will ever accomplish in my entire life. The second is that I am driven to achieve that goal, which tests my patience. Everyone in Myanmar from the US Embassy to the Myanmar government has warned me that my request will take time. In Moh Moh's email, she wrote, "Big dreams never run smooth." That sentence congealed where I am. Interviewing the Lady will be the greatest experience of my life...bar none. I would love to discuss what drives each of us. Surely, dancing with death is a part of the explanation. My dreaming big isn't easy. It costs emotionally. Nonetheless, it is worth all the effort. Additionally, Daw Aung San Suu Kyi picked up the mantle for her father, General Aung San. He was able to get the British out of Burma, which had been a British colony for 125-years. Now, the Lady is paralleling her father's effort by getting the military out of governing Myanmar. In the final analysis, both the father and his daughter are essentially addressing similar tasks.
There are so many things that I would love to discuss with the Lady. The parallels between her work dealing with human rights in Myanmar and the civil rights movement in America are obvious. When Min Ko Naing invited me to a protest rally at Sule Pagoda on their Independence Day, January 4, I walked about that rally. I don't speak a word of Burmese and therefore couldn't understand any of the speeches of the 88-Generation with whom I had lunch several hours before. All that I could hear in my head was Joan Baez singing We Shall Overcome. While wandering around the rally, my mind wandered back to the civil rights movement in America during the 60s.
Additionally, I am aware that the Lady travels a great deal. I would love the opportunity to travel to any place with her and listen to her deal with issues facing international relationships with neighboring countries to Myanmar. I kid you not; what an opportunity that would be. In conclusion, I only have two movies stored on my computer: Man of La Mancha , which is the story of Don Quixote and The Lady , which is the story of Daw Aung San Suu Kyi. Both Don Quixote and the Lady are mentors of mine. Interestingly, both my mentors are quite similar in their determination to "right the unrightable wrongs" no matter what the cost to them. I have learned from both of them how to live my life.
Visit the Burma Independence page to read more about this topic.
Visit the Darkest Before Dawn page to read more about this topic.
Visit the The Last Lecture page to read more about this topic.
Visit the Dancing with Death page to read more about this topic.
Visit the "Don Quixote" page to read more about this topic.
Visit The Mentors and Me page to read more about this topic.
Visit the Best and Worst of Times page to read more about this topic. 12/02/16 Follow @mountain_and_me |
