June 23, 2020

State Counsellor Daw Aung San Suu Kyi requested the people on her Facebook page yesterday to share with her if they have any good methods to overcome difficulties during the COVID period. She also requested the people to share with her if they have found any techniques for utilizing the time wisely while having to stay at home far from the outside world. This was what she wrote:

The term “Post COVID world” has come to mean quite a wide range of things. Does it mean we cannot return to the world as we know it before the end of 2019; even if we find an effective cure, can we not return to the status quo? What are the things we won’t be able to change?

Because of very harsh and violent experiences, people, countries, the whole world have seen tremendous and irreversible changes. We can see this even if we look at our own history. If we look at the whole world, during 20 decades we saw World War I, World War II, the Cold War, the post-Cold War, and the communications technology revolution.

After every age, we could see changes towards progress and also changes towards decline. Progress and decline depend greatly upon the people involved. We need to make efforts to be able to manage in the best possible manner however the situation develops. What we need to do is to tread the best possible path by making use of Karma (Pali Kamma = action), wisdom and sustained effort (viriya).

Since some parts of the road are rough, we need to help each other. If you have any good methods to overcome difficulties during the COVID period; if you have found any techniques for utilizing the time wisely while having to stay at home far from the outside world, please share with me. I will also discuss my own experiences as appropriate. (Translated by Kyaw Myaing)