A Prayer or A Wish (Re-post) (ဆုေတာင္း ရဲ့ English Version ျဖစ္ပါသည္၊ ေနာက္ဆုံးနားမွာ ကဗ်ာတစ္ပုဒ္ပါ ပါသည္၊ မလြတ္တမ္း ဖတ္ၾကည့္ေစခ်င္ပါသည္။) Whether it is a wish or a hope, can I not clearly differentiate it; but it is true that I want to whole heartedly say it out. First, I would like to share a discussion topic I had with a friend over a walk once a upon a time. During a human life span, we can observe the following. “Educating Period” during which period we learn from primary to university. “Career Pursuit” during which period we establish ourselves our career path and profession towards the success. “Settle-in Period” during which period we settle down, get married, and raise our off-springs, after a certain level of wealth and success is achieved. Then, there comes our old age, over-looking our off-springs establish themselves, enjoying the grand children, waiting for our final days. Traditional Burmese defines it as three ages: early age, middle age and old age. As we live through these three ages, we meet new friends (people we get to know) from our surrounding as we live in neighborhood or in the same area, study together, or work together. It is true that we encounter new friends (people we get to know) all the time. The important observation of our discussion is that the friends we made from mid to end of our early age, and beginning of the middle ages are the ones who we keep in touch to this present day and who remain friends with us to the rest of our life time. They are the ones who become your long term friends. More specifically, the friends you met during high school, college & university, and during the early path of our career establishment (towards settling period). The rest of the friends we made during other periods are the one who come into your life when going through the same path, and disappear from your life when our paths differ. It is not our fault that we departed each other as it is just a natural phenomenon. (There can also be a degree of deviation in this observation, since nothing is permanently unchanged through the wheel of change by nature, ancient Chinese called it “i-Ching”) When young, we all remember a saying everyone of us practice for hundreds of times. We try ourselves to be good individuals We try to improve our school to be a better one We try to improve our country to be a better one As much as one can criticize it as a Socialist Slogan, regardless of who wrote this, it is as good and precious for each of us to remember, and follow. With all the teaching of our Lord Buddha (please note that every single religion in the world teaches its follower to be a better human being), we should treat each other with love, understanding, sympathy, forgiveness and help one another to those whom we met and disappeared in life through the law of nature. The most important thing I wish to share here is dedicated to the long term friends, whom we call them Close Friends. In western culture and tradition, there are friends and close friends. I would not want to emphasize what the definition of just Friends really should be, as it is of no major importance to me. But it would be beneficial to share the real definition of Close Friends according to what I learned from the teaching of my parents and teachers, throughout my lifetime. Friends are - - They with whom we shared and lived through a long life time together. - They whom we know each other inside out. - They who understand our bad, give us forgiveness, and praise our success. - They whom we can count on in times of good or bad, holding hands with unity to make us as a we regardless of rich or poor, black or white or yellow. - They who share your pain and help you through your darkest days. - They who dont mind what you say good or bad, but always look to your good sake. Indeed, with that norms and understanding, weve become Close Friends in this lifetime. There are not many, and they are rare. Yet and more over, it is extremely difficult to get more of such. FOR THIS VERY REASON --This little poem is dedicated to my close friends. LETS HANG ON -------------------- The differences will be there as such! This does not mean we must depart. Through patience, understanding, and compromise withheld And so, shall we hang on together (Even blood brothers sisters can be different)! There many be dislike among us! This does not make a mean bunch of us. Through sincere and positive expression, Shall we let go the bads with sincerity; Respect each like and dislike forever, So, shall we hang on together! Unintentional insult may occur! This does not declare a war one another. Through forgiveness and sympathy, and with each dignity, And so, shall we hang on together! One may have completely gone wrong far! With love, and patience to incur, Shall we help him/her find his right success further! Knowing ones good will, when told of own mistake by others, Shall we embrace and realize to a better future, And so, shall we hang on each other. Yet, He said this, and I said that A gossip of such has no good either end. The time of such teenage in-mature role, we have passed long ago. Together, shall we let go And so, a new bright future must unfold. In western culture, there exists sayings like Thanks, Sorry and the tradition of Thanks Giving. Burmese culture as well does have such things in much deeper psychological level. But little had been verbally practiced of such appreciation of ones gratitude, apologizing own fault, and the fact as such argument happens. Despite the fact that, it is absolutely no good and we must not adopt the practice of western culture such as saying many thanks and sorry unnecessarily and free at cost while using them to ones own advantage as a courtesy. If we must surely adopt their good sample of verbally recognizing ones gratitude, apologizing sincerely among us, we, the Burmese close friends, I imagine and foresee what a wonderful society we all will be living in. My aunt, my Dads elder sister, has six children. I grew up with them all my life as if I am one of them to this date. At one time, two of them (my cousin brother and cousin sister) fought and stopped communicating each other. This lasted for 2 decades until they get married and bear children. Another event is that my two cousin-brothers-in-law end up in a fight to a point, they would not face each other. Along went my cousin sisters who stopped talking to each other. I always say 2 things as below: Whether you like it or not, we are brothers and sisters. In times of trouble, whether we talk each other or not, whether we fight each other or not, no one will leave you alone. So let go and say sorry, shake hands and give a hug. Whether your husbands dont face each other or not, must not be the reason between brothers sisters hatred, we must always keep in touch, and we are always brothers and sisters. So let go, say sorry, shake hands and give a hug. As our elders grew old and some of them left us in this cruel world, all of us finally got together closely, and lovingly. It is so delightful and the joy I got from this is endless. Life is short. A whole sea of challenges are always ahead of us. A skyful endless struggles are always coming towards us. Like motherless children we are in strangers’ world, help is scared and far. The only thing with us apart from the Teaching of Lord Buddha is just a bunch of us, so we called Close Friends from the bottom of our hearts. Take this example, learn from it. Let us not end up the same. Hold our hands and hang on each other. Let us now cease our fight if we have had. And lets us never start a fight ever. May all my beloved friends be happy, united, loving, forgiving together.
Posted on: Fri, 08 Nov 2013 19:31:55 +0000