02  July 

State Counsellor Daw Aung San Suu Kyi asked wouldn’t it be nice to also see new worlds while you stay at home during the COVID restriction period on her Facebook page yesterday. This was what she wrote:

Different people have different opinions on how to utilize their stay-at-home periods. For me, whenever I have some time, I read. At first, I was going to write “if I had time to spare”. 

However, as I always have one work or the other, I wondered if I would ever have “time to spare”. That’s why you have to create your own “reading time”.

Let me encourage you to read while you have time on your hands because of these restrictions. Among the things you have to read, some may be work-related reading materials. Some are work-related, some are like reading materials from school; others may be what you need to read while others may be what you wish to read.

Even though the books may be of the same genre, interesting books are the fundamental reason for acquiring a love for reading. In this case, one person cannot be the same as the other. For me, I feel as though I enter a new world when I read. My mind penetrates the restrictions of the four walls and flies through the freedom of space; there I encounter times periods I have not known, regions I have never seen and new ideas I have never imagined before. Wouldn’t it be nice if you could also see new worlds while you stay at home during the COVID restriction period? Together with other COVID relaxation of restrictions, my Facebook posting programme will be relaxed to three times a week on the days when I don’t have any COVID-related videoconferences. However, I will pray and send “metta” to all citizens of the Union to be able to overcome all challenges in good health and peace of mind. 

(Translated by Kyaw Myaing)