Saving Fish from Drowning - Heal Burma

SAVING FISH FROM DROWNING
He looked at Wendy and took a deep breath. “The poor,” Walter
began, measuring each word, “especially those who are not well ed­
ucated, feel things are better now than in years past. What I mean is,
while Myanmar is among the poorest countries in the world, the sit­
uation is, shall we say, more stable, or so the people feel. You see,
they don’t want any more trouble. And perhaps they are grateful that
the government has given them little gifts from time to time. At one
school near here, an important military officer bought the head
teacher a tape player. That was enough to make people happy. And
we now have paved roads from one end of the country to the other.
To most people, this is great and good progress, something they can
see and touch. And there is also less bloodshed, because the rebels,
most of them, have been contained—”
“You mean killed,” Wendy inserted.
Walter did not flinch. “Some died, some are in prison, others have
gone to Thailand or are in hiding.”
“And how do you see it?” Harry asked. “Is Myanmar better off
than old Burma?”
“There are many factors....”
“It depends,” Esmé said.
Walter nodded. “Let me think how to put this. . . .” He thought
about his father, the journalist and university professor who had
been taken away and presumably killed. He considered his job, a de­
sirable one that supported his grandfather and his mother, who never
spoke to each other. He thought about his sisters, who needed a clear
record to attend university. Yet he was a man of morals who despised
the regime for what had happened to his father. He would never ac­
cept it. On occasion, he met secretly with former schoolmates whose
families had suffered similar fates, and they talked of small personal
rebellions, and what would happen to their country if no one ever
again spoke out in opposition. He had once wanted to study to be­
come a journalist, but was told that such studies would lead only to
207