This essay is a follow-up to my essay, Becoming I Am Legend. There is a caveat to that title. It was in my world. Bobby Kennedy and Robert Neville inspired my drive in life. Kennedy was my mentor for most of my adult life and Neville for the past couple of decades.

Becoming I Am Legend was about the obstacles in my life that became opportunities that drove me. That drive has been transformative. I can’t change the world, but I can at least improve my small spot in the world.

But first, the backstory. I have a family in Myanmar, which I dearly love, but COVID and coups have adversely affected my family. My last trip to visit my family was one of those idyllic times. Moh Moh and Ko Ko were tour guides. Moh Moh was my guide on my first visit and Ko Ko on my second trip. My last trip was a family tour together. I wanted to revisit a couple of places that I had been to before, but the rest of the sites were up to them.

One of the places that I had been before was Bagan, but I wanted to revisit it and go on a hot-air balloon ride with my family. Floating over 40 square miles of thousands of monasteries, stupas, temples, and pagodas is breathtaking. This area was constructed a millennium ago.

Additionally, there is a small village called Set Set Yo, located near Bagan. Moh Moh and Ko Ko wanted to visit Set Set Yo. They wanted to show me where they still wear traditional hairstyles. It is one of the only places where they continue to use that hairstyle.

Also, my family are devout Buddhists. They came to Set Set Yo to give young elementary school students notebooks and pencils for their schoolwork. To Americans, giving notebooks and pencils seems mundane. However, Myanmar is a developing country fraught with military coups. The poorest Americans who live in a home possess more than the vast majority of people in Myanmar or the majority of the rest of the world.

Moh Moh and Ko Ko never mentioned that the other reason for stopping at Set Set was to help others with less income than they had. It was simply their Buddhist mindset. While the youngsters received their gifts, I busied myself, flipping the young kids.

I cannot recall how I picked up a child who wasn’t a year old. Regardless, I was carrying around a child whom I called the little one. I finally asked Moh Moh to translate the little one into Burmese, which is A Ngal Lay. I don’t recall how long I held her in my arms.

I also don’t recall whether Moh Moh’s brother or Ti Ti had my camera. Whoever it was also took this photo of A Ngal Lay and me.

Observe how the little one and I looked at each other. A Ngal Lay wasn’t quite a year old and was trying to grasp who this old guy was. Talk about positive haunting experiences. Nonetheless, as long as I am alive, I will remember that moment in time. However, A Ngal Lay doesn’t remember anything of our time together, and that haunts me.

I had Than, a good friend of mine, an artist, and one of my tour guides in Myanmar, paint that photo. The little one is standing next to the painting, and the other photo is of it in her home. She has no memory of me, and all that she has is a painting, which haunts me. I have memories of that moment in time.

This photo of the little one is on my desk next to Ti Ti’s picture.

A Ngal Lay is my great-granddaughter. The parallel between discovering Ti Ti and A Ngal Lay haunts me. I didn’t expect either blessing.

I never met the little one's mother or her older sister. Her father has to work in Malaysia to support his family. I hope to be able to visit my family again. That would be paradise to be with my family again and meet her sister, mother, and father. We could all sit down and enjoy a long dinner together with Moh Moh, Ko Ko, Ti Ti, Snow, and Fatty. Talk about paradise.

In the meantime, I will support my family on the other side of the world because they would have done the same thing if our roles were reversed. This is a recent photo of A Ngal Lay.

These are two videos of A Ngal Lay and a friend going to school.

A Ngal Lay said, “Hello.”

Bobby Kennedy said, “Every generation inherits a world it never made; and, as it does so, it automatically becomes the trustee of that world for those who come after. In due course, each generation makes its own accounting to its children.”

My other mentor, Robert Neville, has provided an example of becoming a follow legend. Choose wisely. It will make all the difference to you and to those whom you assist.

Finally, remember my mantra: “It is giving that we get.”

This is A Ngal Lay’s section of my website, along with Ti Ti’s.