When I was a freshman in high school, I was Very Young at Age 14 🌱☀️💗😇 and 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.....My freshman year World Studies class 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 had 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 and probably some others too that I was now "Older" and not very promising anymore...And Thus I did not need all my old school stuff and Such Forced Action Would Help Me Move On or Something...LOL 😅😓.. (Though I Did have Some Success as a young college student in Hawaii a few years Earlier than This Event, Though I Did Regrettably End Up Dropping out There Ultimately Which Greatly Disappointed My Parents and Everyone in my Life and Led Me to Years of Great Personal Struggles Suffering....And Earlier When I Had Just Turned 20 I Was, With the Support/Encouragement of my Father, Able to Travel a Little Bit Around Western Europe Looking for a good University to Potentially Study and Earn a College Degree in I Was Able to Travel Alone and Visit within England seriously considering Cardiff University (with the encouragement support of the late Professor Verma) and Then I had a stop at a cool German airport and a neat Swiss Airport But I Did Not Find Myself in the Right Situation/Circumstance/Confidence/Motivation to Actually Just Do It.....However, In Fairness to my Family When I was Around 24, Still Very Young, I Was Sent to Cancun, Mexico with my Parents who were on vacation there and I was given introductory Snorkeling lessons and my Father good-naturedly asked me if I wanted to Stay in Cancun and take classes to be professionally certified in Snorkeling/Diving maybe Teach tourists, Etc. (I Remember this seemed like a really cool Relaxing Idea Especially if I could live/study/work in Cancun comfortably long-term as a Young Adult) And Then while still Pretty Young at Age 26 My Father good-naturedly encouraged me to study in New York City like in "City University of New York" for graduate school and live move into my older sister's apartment there and Also at 26 My Father and a close good business associate/partner/family friend in Taiwan positively encouraged me, after I had the privilege of a very nice visit to Taiwan at that time, to study in a good University in Taiwan and settle down there with a nice Asian girl....All the above exotic more Fantastical possibilities/opportunities as a Young Adult I considered seriously as viable options and I had real personal interest...However, None of them materialized Though As Actionable Items for me for various reasons....I still Earned by Age 25, still very Young, a Perfectly Respectable Bachelor's Degree from "San Jose State University", a well-respected University in the Silicon Valley in the San Francisco Bay Area...Though kind of the Feeling still residual is I was not living up fully to expectations Nor Doing as Well As I Should Be Doing and Since Then I have Mostly Entirely Left Formal Education and While I considered graduate school that didn't work out so Since my Mid-Twenties I've been trying to succeed in professional workplaces and make a living as a Bay Area Young Professional (BAYP) 😇🌟💖To Varying Degrees of Success....Anyway back to the main topic of Myanmar, 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 presentation, 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 and 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 democratic nation over a nation ruled by a military dictatorship does not mean that 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, checks and balances on gross corruption, 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 productively 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 I was privileged enough to enjoy a brief tourist visit There while on summer break as a young American schoolboy in the year 1994 (I Remember Vividly my mom commenting out loud Her many positive impressions of the conditions in Singapore like a feeling of Safety she felt while walking at night in the city even she stated she felt she could walk alone safely at night, the Cleanliness, the Impressive Infrastructure and Both My Parents Enthusiastically Supporting the Discipline and Law and Order Culture which was like the "No Gum Chewing Law" and the Caning of the American Youth which were both big news item of the 1990s...LOL! 😂)......I do Remember my perspectives of conditions in Singapore at the time of my visit to Singapore at around Age 9 was similar to my parents and echoed such positive feelings (Though not necessarily the Intense Discipline Punishment Part...LOL 😅😂)....I remember as a Boy a feeling of Calm and Peace and Quiet while traveling within Singapore like on a public bus there, however it was a relatively short visit we took to Singapore as a Family and it was tacked on as a quick last stop before returning to our home in Whittier, Los Angeles in America after our bigger longer summer trip to India and we had less time energy for a really good vacation visit to Singapore and we were also probably kind of already drained exhausted tired from the long grueling trip to India (Where conditions were NOT VERY GOOD AT ALL in my opinion)....Back to my main point is that Singapore was rapidly developed post-World War II under a one-party state and developed so successfully from a poor Third World nation under their famous historical Prime Minister Lee Kuan Yew in only a few decades, and in more Recent Decades, Singapore has seen itself widely acclaimed respected as one of the most Advanced Successful Well-Educated and Healthiest places to live in the world with some of the highest international 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 my 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 and freedom for its people...it's national development...and it's countryside. Peace! 🩷☮😇
Revised/Updated on July 28th, 2024 by the author, Simeet Gandhi from the original article
Reedited on July 17th, 2025 by the author, Simeet Gandhi
New Edits on October, 13, 2025 and October 18, 2025 by the author, Simeet Gandhi
