Mystified by Myanmar

By: Shoshana Wetshnick

Narrated by: Virtual Voice

As I sat in Joe's Coffee struggling to write poetry, I diffused an argument and dropped $20; it may not have changed my life but gave me some perspective. Myanmar, formally known as Burma, may not have been taught about in the many elementary to tertiary history classes that I have taken, or the subject was eloquently glossed over by the teacher or professor. In reality, it was probably the latter as its history, people, and future are a giant puzzle, which many analysts within the region and internationally don't believe can be solved anytime soon. The man I spoke to had been a refugee initially and gained citizenship in the US following a decade-long prison stint in neighboring Thailand after fighting against the Burmese Army. To be clear, I thought the man may have been suffering from some mental issues, so I didn't probe much during the conversation and just tried to listen to his story before meeting his wife and, later, verifying parts of his narrative. The way he departed and what I learned was quite frankly as perplexing as what I researched one afternoon waiting for a part to be delivered for a bus that I was repairing as I am also a diesel mechanic. Myanmar is an enigma as the nation is filled with violent Buddhist fundamentalists who migrated from China almost two millennia ago, brought a Tibetan language, and waged war with everyone from the Khmer to the British, which contradicts everything that I have studied and learned about Buddhists and from theology. Since gaining independence from England, the country has had a coup d'etat on average about every five years, and the man I met is one of the millions that have waged war against a military dictatorship set on keeping Muslims and Hindus out of the country in conjunction with protecting a one-party socialist government that they claim isn't communistic, despite not allowing private ownership of property, etc... This is one unexpected story as told to me on a random afternoon, but more importantly, it's one of the millions that have come out of the country since gaining independence that needs to be heard in combination with some supplemental information that offers an understanding of Burmese history, its present state, and the possible future of Myanmar!