IF

IF you can keep your head when all about you
Are losing theirs and blaming it on you,
If you can trust yourself when all men doubt you,
But make allowance for their doubting too;
If you can wait and not be tired by waiting,
Or being lied about, don't deal in lies,
Or being hated, don't give way to hating,
And yet don't look too good, nor talk too wise:
If you can dream - and not make dreams your master;
If you can think - and not make thoughts your aim;
If you can meet with Triumph and Disaster
And treat those two impostors just the same;
If you can bear to hear the truth you've spoken
Twisted by knaves to make a trap for fools,
Or watch the things you gave your life to, broken,
And stoop and build 'em up with worn-out tools:
If you can make one heap of all your winnings
And risk it on one turn of pitch-and-toss,
And lose, and start again at your beginnings
And never breathe a word about your loss;
If you can force your heart and nerve and sinew
To serve your turn long after they are gone,
And so hold on when there is nothing in you
Except the Will which says to them: 'Hold on!'
If you can talk with crowds and keep your virtue,
' Or walk with Kings - nor lose the common touch,
if neither foes nor loving friends can hurt you,
If all men count with you, but none too much;
If you can fill the unforgiving minute
With sixty seconds' worth of distance run,
Yours is the Earth and everything that's in it,
And - which is more - you'll be a Man, my son!
Rudyard Kipling

Throughout the history, the role of men have changed greatly. Beginning from the hard-labor work like agricultural jobs which emphasis on male physical ability, and shifting to the roles like hard manual labor (Blue-collar worker) especially in the industrialized aged, and now ending with a move to jobs which are less physically demanding with a general reduction in the percentage of manual labor needed in the work force (White-collar worker).
Therefore, nowadays, the male goal in these circumstances is pursuing a quality education and securing a dependable, often office-environment, source of income.

Having said that male dominant , as of the nature of social environment and globalization, women are also hired for their professions and in some societies now men are compete with women for jobs that traditionally excluded women.
What I'm trying to say (for that long) is that our burmese male counterparts are still saying "No" for the recognition of equality of opportunity with women. Let's take this example first. If your girl have her own career and have opportunity to earn appropriate income and you two are going to get married. You want to take her to abroad but her work cannot be pursued in abroad.
And here is your choice.First, ask her to quit, bring her to come, settle in abroad. Second, let her continue pursuing her career and will meet frequently after marriage (come back and fort, home and abroad)

Here comes burmese values, traditional words (Yaung Naung Sa Tone Par). Needless to say, 95% of burmese women will come to abroad to stay with their hubby. Well, until now there is no case. What matter is that "unfortunately, that burmese girl is not in 95%, the very rare 5%, and she want to pursue her career in motherland. Would you give her a chance?

This is for the second thought if you say "Of Course". Firstly, you need to break rule (Yaung Naung Sa Tone Par), meaning, you have to fight with both parents (if they disagree), fight with burmese environment (society) which is the main barrier for most burmese women, as burmese people are very care about the enviroment. (even though they don't care about you). They are afraid of hearing "No" from society. (even though all are based on pessimistic).
Secondly, I think this one is the most difficult, you need to break your "burmese male pride". When it comes to the form of partnership on marriage, our male concept is to stay on top although female can come up and take equal opportunity, burmese males are reluctant to give them permit, give them a chance to be rival with them.
I have just highlighted a very typical example for the ease of consideration. Above is the table about male and female roles model A and B. Based on that you can consider more widely and wisely than my article, I hope.

This is just a general case. Roles can be changed based on cultural environment and individuals concern.

Ref: Wikipedia
Next "Gender Issue". Singapore surveys show that its work force and GDP was doubled in recent years according to the fact that women can work as very well as men do. May be that is one of the driving factors of low percentage of marriage in Singapore, as from the view of population, let it be.
Back to the point, when it comes to the status of burmese women, the answer is unsatisfactory, while putting aside male counterpart. Excluding status of burmese ladies on abroad, even in mother land, they all are, mostly are in the state of immature. Truth be told, I prefer saying the fact that women are very much dwelling in the closed system more than men are.
For example, I came across with the saying of one burmese women who is studying (whenever in abroad or in region) "I won't let myself in going for group discussion or even though i join, i am afraid to let me say or contribute to a discussion as other people will gain more or less of my ideas or knowledge resulting in higher grade than mine". This is just a very fundamental mind set in our female society; only few and far between accept the open system.
However, in other ethnic groups, those kinds of thought in female are gradually lost, some entirely. In this era of globalization, sharing is everything and human beings strive from the bottom to the top by nothing but sharing, of course, through open-minded mind set. I am not discriminating our gender but what bear in my mind is that i want to see our female group taking step together with other women across globe.

Another issue is that, our ladies are so much dependent, i m not going to say about marriage concern here, but to say about leading role and confident. Who is the one establishing the idea of women must be the second whenever in which situation comparing with their husband? I want to kill that idea badly very badly.
The fact that women are not getting equal opportunities is not true but the fact that they are not seeking available opportunities is making me sad very badly.

A typical burmese one stucks in a shadow of so called culture or perception of burmesenism as a result of native environment, system, surrounding especially of predecessors while taking into consideration of Buddhism, at the same time by not blaming it. There are some issues which arise from the realm of one's burmese perception whether staying in abroad or not. Not before saying too deeply in details, let's start from the basic common ground issue "Family".

When every burmese comes to it, we are bound with very traditional ways. Obeying elders, heritage family rules such as following the career advice of one's parents, for example, although one's passion is in singing or painting, one is sure to be forced to do due to his or her parent career advice such as doctor or may be something they admire to or something they want their child to be. In addition, one's has to sacrifice the career of what he want to do as for the support of his elder one's path, in other words, after the elder one finish or make or reach some distance in his chosen career, the previous sacrificed one can benefit from it or can depend on it, I , even, don't know who started that, but my burmese unconscious says it's true.

As far as i know, those kind of traditional ways of thinking style really slower the pace of mature as well as future trend of the next generation. In some cases, those sacrifices don't even have chances to explore their passion or knowledge in interested area throughout the entire life as sacrifice and creativity never comes together, ever. Besides, even in a small matter like drinking alcohol or smoking, off springs are strictly prohibited from them although their father do them in more or less. Those are just typical case studies of burmese family. Situations can vary based on different family cultural styles, though, core concept is undeniable.


Does those affect the future of burmese young generation although it was enough destroyed by the system itself, however, what about people? If changes have to be made indeed, shall we wait or try to make the system change first or make the changes on people first? Like saying "Creativity never blooms in a Room", in this first pacing era, we can't be still in closed system as well as, of course, close perception, thoughts, ideas. I hope that future family culture of burma will shift in favor of our next generation blossom, as one's person root perception coming from it's root, "Family".

The art of losing isn't hard to master;
so many things seem filled with the intent
to be lost that their loss is no disaster.

Lose something every day. Accept the fluster
of lost door keys, the hour badly spent.
The art of losing isn't hard to master.

Then practice losing farther, losing faster:
places, and names, and where it was you meant
to travel. None of these will bring disaster.

I lost my mother's watch. And look! my last, or
next-to-last, of three loved houses went.
The art of losing isn't hard to master.

I lost two cities, lovely ones. And, vaster,
some realms I owned, two rivers, a continent.
I miss them, but it wasn't a disaster.

---Even losing you (the joking voice, a gesture
I love) I shan't have lied. It's evident
the art of losing's not too hard to master
though it may look like (Write it!) like disaster.

By
Elizabeth Bishop
The only reason you go out,
The only objective in mind,
A glimpse of a familiar pair
Of legs on a busy street or
A squeeze from a female who
You can only call your friend.

A scoreless night fosters hostility
A scoreless weekend breeds animosity
Through red eyes all the world is seen,
Angry at friends and family for no
Reasons that they can perceive.
Only you know why you are so mad.

There is the 'just friends' one who you've
Known for so long, who respects you
So much that you can't do what you want
And she no longer bothers to put on her
False personality and flirt because she thinks
You like her for who she is when what you
Liked about her was her flirtatiousness.

When your own hand becomes your best lover,
When your life-giving fertilizer is wasted
In a Kleenex and flushed down the toilet
You wonder when you are going to stop
Thinking about what could have happened
That night when you almost got somewhere.

There is the coy one who smile
And looks like she wants to meet you,
But you can't work up the nerve to talk
So instead she will become one of your nighttime
Fantasies, where you could have but didn't
Your hand will be substututed for hers.

When you neglect work and meaningful activities
When you neglect the ones who really love you
For a shot at a target that you rarely hit
Does everyone get lucky with women but you
Or do females just not want it as bad as you do?

By Neil Strauss (From the book 'The Game: Undercover the Secret Society of Pickup Artists')


Love, Fidelity, is it related? Are they really exist in the real world? Are we all mind-freaked by those words which can end the world as well as blossom the world (everybody's mindset)? Various definitions on those conveys confused in each other, whatsoever, like it or not, whenever they comes, we all die and fail in a sense of proud manner without second thought. We love to feel it in a sense of no matter what we lose it or win. It is undeniable that they exist but the question is "are we defining something wrong?" "do we too depend on intangible thing" "do they really make us happy" or "are those all illusion of our wrong perception"......
Where there is a will, there is a way. There is, but, only if you can make it to the end. If not, your will is destroyed resulting in losing your way. Estienne, Newton, they who make things unbelievable, are they all super human? or is there an additional brain inside each of them? Wouldn't matter, who cannot say you can be next Estienne. will + way + effort can show you success? However, is this formula true? Success without failure seems fairy tale? or resistance to failure reveals success? Just like cultivating very sensitive plant, with the exact amount of water, sunlight, fertilizer, pesticide.....etc....
Flexibility comes with nothing much but no menu about what your tastes are. Modern or Contemporary Society needs it, nevertheless, everybody expects from anybody in every bit of situation is the strong stand on something, which shows uniqueness, coolness. Hence, Society needs middle-way, half-flexibility as well as half-uniqueness, or fully-flexibility or fully-typical. It is weird that you don't have or know your favorites (too-flexible), more weird if you don't know which way to choose (too-middle), most weird if you stick something faithfully throughout your life ....(so-typical)(predictable).....
Start with something and end with nothing. God-gifted prodigy is dwelling in the past and trying with indulgence to force all the things around to be changed. Life doesn't play by rules even though he knows, at least, somehow in the deeper portion of him, holds firmly to the belief that one day he who makes the rules and he who plays life will be himself, somewhat awkward though. Rewarding never comes without scarifying, in other words, what we earn in one hand must lose on the other hand. Right or Wrong is Personal Taste, Fair or Unfair is Misconception.