Moh Moh's Email
Big Dreams Never Run Smooth

It is interesting to me how transformative Moh Moh's emails are.  Several months ago, I was pining away in an email to her about not getting an additional job that I wanted.  I didn't want to cut into my retirement savings and windup robbing Peter to pay Paul.  Nevertheless, I did want to return to Myanmar (Burma) and attempt again to interview Daw Aung San Suu Kyi, the Lady. 

A day or two later, Moh Moh replied with an email which sounded like Don Quixote giving me advice.  I kid you not; that single email revitalized me.  I felt invigorated and went back to dreaming the impossible dream of interviewing the Lady.

Description: Description: https://www.wolverton-mountain.com/articles/images/moh-moh-spoke/image002.png

Several weeks ago, I received another email from Moh Moh.  In my previous email, I mentioned that the American Embassy and the government in Myanmar said that it would take quite a while to hear from the Lady's office.  In response, Moh Moh wrote this reply.

Greeting from Myanmar

Hello Al,

How are you?  Here everyone good in health.  Probably, you are waiting the Lady's reply.  As you know, she is very good at international relationship.  So, most of the time she goes overseas for country develop.  After come back from US, she is not feeling well.  But she can rest only very a few days.  Then she went on china, India so on.  She is too busy.  That why you keep on wait patiently.  Big dreams never run smooth.  For me, every day I check your mail.  I wish for you everything perfect.  Now, TT is almost taller than me within three years.  She also want to meet Owen & Jack.

Take care.
Best Regards
MohMoh

My response to Moh Moh was as much my being forced to put all my thoughts down psychologically regarding who I was as it was addressing her email. 

Moh Moh,

I'm fine.  Actually, I am excited about life and am waiting patiently to hear from the Lady.  I try to follow where she is going to visit next.  She and I are about the same age.  However, this is something that I want to discuss with her.  In America, we have a term, dancing with death  .  It is about medical or political problems that could cause one's death.  She and I have done the dance...she many times.  However, what intrigues me is that doing the dance can cause one to live.  I'd love to talk about the effects of her dances and how she handles them. 

We are old enough to know that we won't be around forever.  Therefore, instead of sitting around and doing nothing, we both want to accomplish things that we feel are necessary and important.  Additionally, we realize that our time is very limited.  We both have to address the issue of legacy  ...how we will be remembered for the time we spent here in this world.  Man, that is critically important to the Lady and me.  She has changed her country and given it renewed hope.   

In two weeks, we will elect a new president.  Trump is the village idiot and won't come close to winning.  He is a national embarrassment.  The rest of the world must think that Americans are crazy.  I would like to hear what the Lady thinks about Trump.  (-; 

Several weeks ago, Jack was working on a copy of Ti Ti's photo.  He was serious about putting a frame around it. I showed him a map of the world so that he knew where Ti Ti lived.  That was hard for him to understand the distance.  It took me an entire 24-hours to fly to Myanmar with a couple stops along the way.

This goes back to having danced with death....  At my age, I am overly protective of Jack and Owen as my grandchildren.  I feel that way about Ti Ti.  I only saw Fatty and Snow for a couple minutes, but I care about them also.  This protectiveness issue is different now than it was when my three children were young.  Then, I thought that I would never die and be around always to care for them and protect them.  Well, I did the dance twice, and I see life from a radically different perspective today. 

I do want to interview the Lady and U Htin Kyaw.  However, seeing you and your family is critically important to me personally.  As for Ti Ti growing up, the picture you sent in a previous email is of a young lady. 

Take care,
Al

Moh Moh knows two things about me.  First, being able to sit down with Daw Aung San Suu Kyi will be the most important thing that I will ever accomplish in my entire life.  The second is that I am driven to achieve that goal, which tests my patience.  Everyone in Myanmar from the US Embassy to the Myanmar government has warned me that my request will take time.

In Moh Moh's email, she wrote, "Big dreams never run smooth."  That sentence congealed where I am.  Interviewing the Lady will be the greatest experience of my life...bar none.  I would love to discuss what drives each of us.  Surely, dancing with death is a part of the explanation.  My dreaming big isn't easy.  It costs emotionally.  Nonetheless, it is worth all the effort.

Additionally, Daw Aung San Suu Kyi picked up the mantle for her father, General Aung San.  He was able to get the British out of Burma, which had been a British colony for 125-years.  Now, the Lady is paralleling her father's effort by getting the military out of governing Myanmar.  In the final analysis, both the father and his daughter are essentially addressing similar tasks.

Description: Myanmar Album Cover

There are so many things that I would love to discuss with the Lady.  The parallels between her work dealing with human rights in Myanmar and the civil rights movement in America are obvious.  When Min Ko Naing invited me to a protest rally at Sule Pagoda on their Independence Day, January 4, I walked about that rally.  I don't speak a word of Burmese and therefore couldn't understand any of the speeches of the 88-Generation with whom I had lunch several hours before.  All that I could hear in my head was Joan Baez singing We Shall Overcome.  While wandering around the rally, my mind wandered back to the civil rights movement in America during the 60s. 

Description: https://www.wolverton-mountain.com/images/travel/myanmar/yangon/protest-rally/fullsize/01.jpg

Description: https://www.wolverton-mountain.com/images/travel/myanmar/yangon/protest-rally/fullsize/13.jpg

Description: https://www.wolverton-mountain.com/images/travel/myanmar/yangon/protest-rally/fullsize/16.jpg

Additionally, I am aware that the Lady travels a great deal.  I would love the opportunity to travel to any place with her and listen to her deal with issues facing international relationships with neighboring countries to Myanmar.  I kid you not; what an opportunity that would be. 

In conclusion, I only have two movies stored on my computer: Man of La Mancha  , which is the story of Don Quixote and The Lady  , which is the story of Daw Aung San Suu Kyi.  Both Don Quixote and the Lady are mentors of mine.  Interestingly, both my mentors are quite similar in their determination to "right the unrightable wrongs" no matter what the cost to them.  I have learned from both of them how to live my life.



Burma flag

Burmese independence flag

Visit the Burma Independence page to read more about this topic.



Darkest Before Dawn

Darkest Before Dawn

Visit the Darkest Before Dawn page to read more about this topic.



The Last Lecture

The Last Lecture

Visit the The Last Lecture page to read more about this topic.



Dancing with Death

Dancing with Death

Visit the Dancing with Death page to read more about this topic.



Don Quixote

"Don Quixote"

Visit the "Don Quixote" page to read more about this topic.



An old man and his grandson

An Old Man and His Grandson

Visit The Mentors and Me page to read more about this topic.



Best of Times

Best and Worst of Times

Visit the Best and Worst of Times page to read more about this topic.

12/02/16