A Lesson from Burma

Did ya ever hear of the Burma Road or “flying the Hump”?  Well there ain’t too many of us left to remember it.  I know, I can hear the younguns sayin’, “What’s a Burma?” And “Where’s the camels?”  And even some of my neighbors want to know if I’m talkin’ shaving cream.  I even heard one fella say, “Hump what?”  Well it ain’t got nothing to do with none of that.  Reckon I’ll have to give a history lesson.

Back in WWII, the Chinese was our allies.  That was before them Communists took over and ran the real Chinese out to the island of Formosa.  Well anyway, we was supplying our Chinese friends from India using the Burma Road to get supplies over the Himalaya Mountains.  That was till the Japs took over most of Burma and cut off the road.  It weren’t much of a fight.  The Burmese was easy.  A gun always wins against a pitch-fork.  So then the only way in to China was to fly them supplies from India up and over the mountains.  That’s what got nicknamed “The Hump.” 

Well, that’s a fact, but it ain’t the lesson I was talkin’ about.  Besides, the lesson ain’t for you anyway.  It’s for them politicians in Washington. 

It seems they was startin’ to build this huge power dam in Burma. Of course it’s the Chinese that wants the power from that dam.  And they done a bunch of prodding and give stacks of money to help it along,  The Chinese need more electricity, but they didn’t want the thing in their back yard.  So, they conned Burma into burying whole towns and thousands of acres of good bottomland.  Lots of folks in Burma was against the whole thing.  And rightly so.  They give their government a ear-full.

Now here’s the lesson friend:  The President of Burma just announced that they’re gonna stop building that dam.  Why?  Because, "We have to respect the will of the people as our government is elected by the people. We have a responsibility to solve the worries of the people".  Yessir!  That’s what President Thein Sein said.  He listened to the people of Burma.

You think them politicians in Washington got a clue of what this lesson is all about?  Didn’t think so.  Reckon them folks in Burma got this democracy thing figured out better than us. That's what I think, but I am still…

Justan O. Geezer