Category: Concept

• Most children are not afraid of failing. They ignore their failures and eventually learn to do new things
  ride a bike,
  swim and
  speak several languages
  
• Most adults are afraid of failing. They do not try to move outside their comfort zone.

• We read about “King Bruce and the Spider“. The moral of the story was “If at first you don’t succeed, try, try, try again.”

• Thomas Edison succeeded in developing the incandescent bulb after 1000+ tries and failures. He said that he learned something new from the failed experiments.

• NASA had failures.
  Three astronauts training for Apollo 1 Mission — Gus Grissom, Ed White and Roger Chafee — died due to the deadly fire
  The NASA space program rebounded from the failure and eventually landed men on the moon,
  NASA developed an accelerated program to beat USSR in the race to the moon.

• Around Christmas of 1968, three astronauts (Frank Borman, James Lovell and Bill Anders) circled the moon and sent back lovely pictures.
  Apollo 8 was an important step for a successful mission to set men on the moon.

• I wrote a poem on “Apollo 8”. It was not published. My mentor Reverend F. Ludvig (aka Ashin Ananda) said, “Your poem is long. Most people do not have the time and leisure to read poems, especially long ones.” I could have lost heart and confidence.

• In July 1969, Apollo 11 landed in Tranquility Bay on the moon. I wrote a poem “Men on the Moon“.
  Ashin Ananda gave my poem to Mr. Hall, Information Officer at USIS. He forwarded it to NASA. He put me on the subscription list of USIS. I received “Alin Yaung Magazine”, Newsletters and Translations.
  My poem was also published in the Guardian Newspaper.

Senior

A few years back, I felt uncomfortable to be addressed as “Ah Ba”, “Pho Pho” and to be offered assistance (e.g. wheelchair).

Now I feel okay to have wheelchair rides at air ports and to have people assist me when I climb up and down hill slopes. I recently had a couple of bike rides on the dirt roads.

As a senior, I enjoy discounts on trains, buses and selected restaurants.

I simply hope that my mental faculties will remain sharp and strong.

Jara (old age) catches even the sport stars like Sayagyi U Ba Toke.

Sayagyi U Ba Toke

Saya is a Phwa Bet Taw of Rangoon University and the first Rangoon University Students’ Strike in December 1920.

In 2000, Theingi (Saya’s youngest daughter) conveyed us Saya’s wishes to attend SPZP-2000. U Maung Maung Than (M79, Texas) had donated a round trip ticket. Several sayas and alumni donated expenses. Details can be found in “Count down to the Reunion” articles.

He celebrated his 96th birthday in December 2016 with his children, grand children and great grand children.

Saya gave a speech in SPZP-2007 about “Longevity”. Saya visited a house in USSR where the 80+ year old host explained about the noise up stairs. “Don’t worry. It’s my 100+ year old uncle quartering with his fourth wife. They will make amends.”

During my visits to Yangon, I paid respect to Saya.

U Ohn Khine (M70) gave me a ride in 2012. Saya gave us autographed book. We enjoyed Sayagyi’s accounts. He was a football star, a leader of the Burma Olympic Delegation, and an excellent teacher. Up to his early 80s, Sayagyi could walk to the Shwe Dagon pagoda with his friends. In his 90s, Sayagyi lost some mobility, eye sight and hearing, but he was determined to attend SPZPs.

In 2016, Saya’s son U Ye Myint and daughter Daw Thynn Thynn (Pansy) made arrangements to give us rides to and back from Saya’s house.

In early 2018, I called Ma Theingi, Sayagyi’s youngest daughter and asked about Sayagyi. She mentioned that Sayagyi is healthy but because he had lost most teeth, they have to listen carefully to grasp his message.

Saya passed away on December 2, 2020. It was the day after RI U Centennial. It was a few days short of his Centennial Birthday on December 26.

I received both compliments and doubts.

First example

A1 : Compliment

• Thanks Sayagyi (Member of Generation Zero) for attending the 5th Acariya Pu Zaw Pwe of ICST/UCSY.
• Thanks Sayagyi for sharing “UCC Memories” and for your Guest Lecture “Computer Chin, Ngan, Sutt”.

A2 : Doubt

• Why do people address U Hla Min as Saya?
• Where did he teach?

A3 : Reality

• I was a saya at UCC (Universities’ Computer Center), DCS (Department of Computer Science) and ICST (Institute of Computer Science and Technology).

• Aye Aye Kyaw Zin, younger daughter of U Kyaw Zin (EP69), was one of my students at ICST.

Second example

B1 : Compliment

He is a “Hin Lay Oh Gyi”.

B2 : Doubt

Have you read George Orwell?

B3 : Reality

• I am a life long learner.
• I have a decent memory.
• I have read books (but the number is far less than those of bibliophiles like Saya U Thein Han (Zawgyi, former Chief Librarian of Rangoon University Central Library).

Third example

C1 : Compliments

• Thanks for beautifully translating my poems and articles.
• You should send your poem “Men on the Moon” to NASA.

C2 : Doubt

• Why is he speaking at the Centennial of UNSG U Thant?
• Is he a writer?

C3 : Reality

• I am a “Sar Pay Myat Noe Thu”.
• I have written articles, poems, translations, study guides, and blogs.
• I have edited several books (mostly to commemorate events).
• Nine of my articles appear in the Encyclopedia of Asian American Folklore and Folklife.
• I co-authored a book, but the sales were not that great.

Hope

With the help of volunteers, my posts can be turned into a set of e-books and even printed books.

Ivan Lee (M69)

• Ivan was the youngest in the family.
• His father passed away when he was a few years old.
• His mother raised the family, and also lived long to have great grand children.
• Ivan e-mailed us when his mother turned 100. It showed the birthday card sent to his mother from the 43rd US President George W. Bush.
• Ivan e-mailed again when his mother turned 101. It showed the birthday card sent to his mother from the 44th US President Barack Obama.
• His mother passed away at the tender age of 102. She was alert until the final days. It could be because she played two hours of Mah Jong daily.

Timothy Hla’s Post on June 21, 2020

Tribute to his parents Dr. PR Mohan and Dr. Daw Hnin Yee

Today is a special day for me and my family. First and foremost, we celebrate my Mom’s birthday. Even though we cannot be with her physically in Seattle, she enjoys the company and excellent care by my sister Mona T. Han and is showered by love from all family members and her friends and former students in the Institute of Medicine 1, University of Rangoon. In addition to raising four children, taking care of her husband and running a busy household, she was a career woman who was able to balance a successful career (she became the Professor and Head of the Department of Medicine) and a busy life with grace and charm.

Second, today is father’s day. I am enjoying my family (wife Jeanne Wadsworth-Hla, and grown children Hilary May, Jon Matthew and Audrey Hla who will be here to have dinner. Very grateful for them to be here to celebrate my fatherhood. It is one of the happiest aspects of my life and I am most grateful. I also remember and honor the memory of my Dad (PR Mohan) who passed away over 15 years ago. He was an orphan who grew up in poverty with 9 siblings in Burma, overcame lots of obstacles to get an MBBS degree in 1939, worked as a military doctor during the WW2 with the allied forces for which received many medals and citations, used his pension from the army to get trained as a Cardiologist in London (Royal Brompton Hospital and National Heart Institute) with the famous Cardiologist Paul Wood, returned to Burma to give back to his native land despite various lucrative job offers in the UK, and served honorably by establishing the first Cardiac Department at the Rangoon General Hospital, established the first coronary care unit and brought cutting edge cardiology care to Burma. He also trained a cadre of younger physicians. I even came across an article he wrote about congenital heart diseases in the local medical journal in 1955 in PubMed. Many of his colleagues and students remember him as a no-nonsense Physician with a rough exterior but with a kind heart. My fondest memories of him were his love and dedication to his family and friends. He also introduced me to his love of various music genres of the world, and appreciation of fine food and libations.

Me

• I am fortunate to have parents who lived beyond 80.
• I am not fortunate enough to have them around to see my Hmees, who are excellent in their studies and in their hobbies.
• They would have smiled to hear my grand daughter say, “Are you at home? Who’s your doctor? What happened?” after I returned from the colonoscopy screening. She added, “I’ll take care of you. I love you.” She must have inherited the loving kindness of her great grand parents.
• They would be delighted to see her awards including “Super Reader” and a top student of her class.
• They would be impressed to see my grand son dribbling a standard basketball for 30+ seconds, scoring goals in a competitive tournament and learn that he is also a top student of his class.

• There are 100+ varieties of apples. Most are eaten fresh. Some are eaten as salad. Some are cooked or made into pie or sauce.
• Grannie Smith was chosen by the Beatles for the logo of their company “Apple Records”.
• Steve Wozniak (“Woz”) and Steve Jobs formed “Apple” Company to market their Apple computers.
• “Apple” Company was sued by “Apple Records” for copyright infringement. The judge said that it was okay to use the name Apple for two different domains : computers and music. The judge might be surprised to learn that several decades later, Apple computers are playing Beatles albums on iTunes.
• Steve Jobs named another product as “Macintosh”. In British English, Macintosh is a rain coat. McIntosh is an apple.
• There used to be a grocery chain called “Apple Tree” and a restaurant chain called “Apple Bee”.
• There are words and phrases like Adam’s apple, the apple of my eye, and apple pie order.
• It is probable that Adam and Eve ate apple in the Garden of Eden. The Hebrew scriptures simply mention the “forbidden fruit”.
• Sir Isaac Newton was in an apple orchard when he discovered the law of gravity. It is not sure if an apple fell on his head. He noticed that apples fall vertically to the ground. He asked himself why the moon did not fall to the earth.
• Both men and women have Adam’s apple, but men have larger, distinctive ones.

Everyone is entitled to an opinion.
e.g. Social media is good for getting contact with lost friends, but not good for use in research papers.

Some newspapers have Op-Ed (Opinion and Editorial).
e.g. There may be two competing opinions of DST (Daylight Savings Time) : one for and one against.

An opinion may not be true. It may have biases and unintentional errors.

One should not react to an unfavorable opinion.
e.g. Names may not be a hobby for everyone.

One should take whatever is relevant in the opinion.
Then, optionally, one should respond (e.g. which parts are relevant, and which parts are not).

The following are examples of incorrect assessments by experts.

“Joe Montana cannot be an efficient Quarterback, because he does not have the structure, strength and finesse.”
Joe went on to win four Superbowl, and entered the Football Hall of Fame.

“Apple Music and Apple Computers are two different fields. There need not be confusion with Apple in their names and products.”
The judge for the Trade Mark suit could not see deep into the future. The Beatles songs (owned by Apple Music) are played in iPod (owned by Apple Computers).

“The Long Jump record at 1968 Mexico City Olympics will not be broken at other places (with lower altitudes).”
Bob Beamon’s leap beat the existing Olympic and World Records by a wide margin, and was considered a “fluke” (partly aided by the rarefied atmosphere). The record was broken by Carl Lewis (who won the Long Jump at four Olympics).