{"id":10175,"date":"2026-09-29T03:59:48","date_gmt":"2026-09-28T21:29:48","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/moemaka.net\/eng\/?p=10175"},"modified":"2026-09-29T03:59:48","modified_gmt":"2026-09-28T21:29:48","slug":"a-little-happiness-a-lot-of-suffering","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/moemaka.net\/eng\/2026\/09\/a-little-happiness-a-lot-of-suffering\/","title":{"rendered":"A Little Happiness, A Lot of Suffering"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

\"\"<\/a><\/h1>\n

A Little Happiness, A Lot of Suffering<\/h1>\n

Maung Lu Hmwe<\/strong><\/p>\n

I want to begin this piece by expressing my gratitude.<\/p>\n

First of all, I would like to thank Saya Maung Yit, Saya Khin Lun and everyone at MoeMaKa for creating and maintaining a dignified literary platform where people like us, living inside the country in resistance-held areas, can share our feelings and perspectives.<\/p>\n

I would also like to thank Saya Yan Naing and everyone at m.CDM Myanmar for presenting these writings in audio form so that ordinary people can listen to them easily.<\/p>\n

And I would like to thank Saya Ko Tin Maung Win and others who have been providing assistance to displaced people.<\/p>\n

If Saya Maung Yit were to ask me,<\/p>\n

\u201cMaung Lu Hmwe, are you writing this one directly to us?\u201d<\/p>\n

I would have to answer,<\/p>\n

\u201cYes, Saya.\u201d<\/p>\n

Just as Saya Maung Yit once wrote that we need people who can tell the stories of our own time, we also need people in resistance areas who can offer practical guidance to young people.<\/p>\n

We need people who can advise those in leadership.<\/p>\n

We need people who can help displaced communities develop in a sustainable way.<\/p>\n

And people like me also need someone to talk to, someone to confide in, someone to consult.<\/p>\n

No matter how close people may once have been, once one person is living in a resistance-held area and another in a city controlled by the military, the distance between them can feel greater than being in different countries.<\/p>\n

So in the end, Saya, I can only turn to people like you and speak from the heart.<\/p>\n

Among the teachers and writers I have long wanted to thank is Saya Maung Too.<\/p>\n

Because of his essays, I have been able to read about people who sacrificed their own interests for politics, as well as poets and writers whom I deeply respect. Reading about such people fills me with admiration.<\/p>\n

After reading about someone I respect, I want to talk about that person. I want to discuss them. I want to share the bittersweet pleasure of remembering and missing them together with someone else.<\/p>\n

But out here in the forest where I am now, there is no one to have those conversations with.<\/p>\n

So most of the time, I am left to savor these thoughts by myself.<\/p>\n

And after doing that for too long, I can no longer keep it all inside. That is why I end up writing letters like this\u2014a lonely literary person trying to ease his own loneliness.<\/p>\n

Lately, I have also been reading the literary essays by Saya Nanda Aung in MoeMaKa.<\/p>\n

His articles are enjoyable because they are built on solid information.<\/p>\n

Whenever MoeMaKa publishes something related to literature, I organize it into folders on my phone so I can read it again later.<\/p>\n

I save the writings of Saya Maung Too, Ko Lay Oh\u2019s experiences as a journalist, and other pieces like these so I can return to them.<\/p>\n

I have also been reading Saya Ma Flora Han\u2019s articles about the floods.<\/p>\n

Just as she wrote, we see people everywhere mistaking moments of pleasure in the darkness for real freedom.<\/p>\n

I have also seen online how Myanmar Spring Humanity is doing whatever it can to help flood victims.<\/p>\n

I know from personal experience that the worst suffering from a flood often begins after the water recedes.<\/p>\n

And while I was thinking about the floods this very evening, I received a phone call from a school for displaced children.<\/p>\n

It was from a school I have never visited before.<\/p>\n

They said they need printed textbooks, beginning with books for primary school children.<\/p>\n

\u201cPlease come and visit us, Saya,\u201d they said.<\/p>\n

In fact, this year alone, with the help that you and others have provided through me, we have already assisted five schools for displaced children.<\/p>\n

We helped with the construction of one school.<\/p>\n

At another, we supported three things: rice porridge for the children, desks and books.<\/p>\n

At a third school, we helped provide desks.<\/p>\n

At a fourth, we donated a large number of exercise books.<\/p>\n

And at the fifth school\u2014which, thanks to your help, we were able to support throughout last year\u2014we have already provided exercise books as well.<\/p>\n

So this year I have personally visited five displaced schools.<\/p>\n

But there are another five schools that I still have not yet reached.<\/p>\n

The school that called while I was writing this is one of those five.<\/p>\n

When they called, I told them that donating books is an expression of humanitarian compassion, but the most important thing is for all of us ourselves to remain united and work together for progress.<\/p>\n

\u201cPlease come to the camp first, Saya,\u201d they said.<\/p>\n

So I will have to go, Saya.<\/p>\n

And I must also thank Miss Hmwe, who has given me permission to use all of my writing fees to cover the expenses of making these trips.<\/p>\n

I have planted many trees in my life.<\/p>\n

A tree can survive only if it is watered and weeded while it is still young.<\/p>\n

Now, you are the ones helping to water these young trees.<\/p>\n

As for the weeding, Miss Hmwe and I are doing as much as we can, without stopping.<\/p>\n

Talking about watering brings the flood victims back into my mind again.<\/p>\n

Our country, as you know, Saya, is caught in one trouble after another.<\/p>\n

Step forward and something strikes from behind. Step backward and something else hits from the front.<\/p>\n

There are so many moments when it feels difficult even to breathe.<\/p>\n

That is why I write letters like this to you\u2014hoping that speaking from the heart might bring a little relief and give me some kind of outlet.<\/p>\n

Perhaps you will say,<\/p>\n

\u201cMaung Lu Hmwe, your letter started out sounding nostalgic and heartwarming, but by the end it turned into nothing but suffering.\u201d<\/p>\n

If so, there is only one answer I can give you:<\/p>\n

This is reality, Sayas.<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A Little Happiness, A Lot of Suffering Maung Lu Hmwe I want to begin this piece by expressing my gratitude. First of all, I would like to thank Saya Maung Yit, Saya Khin Lun and everyone at MoeMaKa for creating…<\/p>\n

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