When I was a freshman in high school, I was Very Young at Age 14 🌱☀️💗😇 and I was enrolled in Mountain View High School 🏫🌞🎒and was viewed by many of my teachers as a Promising, Good-Looking Student with a lot of Potential, and our freshman World Studies classes had an end of school year Country Report project.....All the other freshman World Studies classes had been taken by their teachers earlier and picked the more popular and well-known countries on the list by the time my World Studies class led by my teacher Mr. Art Mori took us to pick the countries that had not already been chosen.....I chose the nation of Myanmar (which earlier had been known as Burma). If I had the full list of countries to choose from I still remember I wanted to choose a country in Europe or some cool advanced country which seemed more interesting and cool. Though I found Myanmar interesting too and I respected its history and Buddhist traditions. All of us freshman year students had to prepare a formal written report and a class presentation on the nation we had chosen. I remember putting a significant amount of time and effort in preparing both the formal report and class presentation, I asked my parents to drop me off several times to the Mountain View Public Library for the specific task of researching academic books on the nation of Myanmar and start drafting my report. I felt stress and pressure to be preparing such a big project at this age and stage, I remember I was like sweating while researching all those history books in the Mountain View Public Library because I felt such stress and pressure...LOL...😂 but I remember I got the report in and I performed the class presentation competently enough, though I do not remember my exact grade it was likely a B+ not sure though and I long ago now lost the original report with graded comments, even Though while I made sure to save all my freshman and sophomore year school binders I do remember that all of my old Mountain View High School papers were forcibly Thrown Away by My Mom 🙏, All Due Respect to Her, When I was Still in my Twenties 😣😅As She Thought that I was now "Old" and not promising anymore (Though I Did have Some Success as a young college kid in Hawaii a few years Earlier than This Event).... and Thus I did not need all my old school stuff and Such Forced Action Would Help Me Move On or Something...LOL 😅😓...Anyway, the Academic topic of Myanmar was never covered in any class and given any attention at all in any way for the rest of my Formal Education Up to my Graduation from University.....In my report and class presenation, I do remember I made sure to highlight what was at the time the popular social issue the story of democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi, who was widely seen at this time as a heroic virtuous leader promoting democracy and human rights and opposed to corruption, and her prosecution by the military dictatorship in Burma. Also the history of Buddhism in Myanmar along with its beautiful countryside landscape of Pagodas. Last year there was an uprising of the Burmese monks and civilians against the corrupt military junta in control of the country. It's a disgrace that a pro-democracy leader such as Suu Kyi has been under house arrest for decades and is being prosecuted for simply allowing an American to visit her house. I believe sometimes military action is necessary, and having a coalition of world forces enter Myanmar and set up a democratic government is in my view a good thing. The population wants it and it is the right thing to do. But right now the US and Britain are focused on the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. These are wars of choice against a population that generally does not want to be occupied by foreign forces.
In more recent years, I have read that Myanmar democracy leader Auung San Suu Kyi has been criticized by human rights groups and international monitors for reportedly prosecuting Muslim minority groups in Myanmar and was removed from her government leadership position put into house arrest again. I have not studied that issue in full detail. However, I will say that if such reports are true then I would certainly agree that such actions are wrong and immoral. Having a demoractic nation over a nation ruled by a military dictatorship does not mean it will be a society free from any problems. However, a democratic nation should mean also that groups which the majority disagree or find differences in should be able to live in peace and non-violence and in a democratic nation there needs to be respect for the rule of law and the rights of others. So I hope that any kind of prosecution and abuse or violence towards Muslim minority groups or any other minority groups in Myanmar does not continue in the future. So I would say Now in conclusion and summary that in my opinion that whether a nation is governed as a democracy or as a military dictatorship there can be law and order and respect for the rights of others and a policy of non-violence towards people and property. Certainly I believe it is possible for internal problems in a nation to be resolved peacefully and produtively without resort to violent protests or major disruptions or wars...even if there are opposing forces going on between the supporters of democratic rule and a military dictatorship... I would wish Aung San Suu Kyi could live out the rest of her life in peace and freedom as well..The best example I Can think of is the development model of Singapore which was rapidly developed post-World War II under a one-party state and developed so successfully from a poor Third World nation that in Recent Decades it has widely been acclaimed as one of the most advanced successful well-educated and healthiest places to live in the world and with some of the highest rankings of metric scales in several key categories.
I've never been able to visit Myanmar personally and since the Country Report I presented in high school when I was 14 Nobody has ever wanted to talk with me about Myanmar LOL! 😂 ...But I do wish a great future for the nation of Myanmar, the quality of life for its people...it's development...and it's countryside. Peace! 🩷☮😇
Edited on July 28th, 2024 by the author, Simeet Gandhi
Reedited on July 17th, 2025 by the author, Simeet Gandhi
