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First Words

The first words learned by children all over the world is “Mother” and it variants.

English

• Mother, Mom, Mum, Mummy, Mama
• Usage :
  Mother Tongue
  Mother Earth
  Motherland

Myanmar

• Ah May, Mi Gin, Mway Mi Gin, Ah Mi, Mae Daw
• Usage :
  Mae Daw Maya
  Ah Mi Myay
  Ah Mi Tekkatho

Latin

• Mater
• Usage :
  Alma mater

Pali

• Mata
• Usage :
  Mata Pitu Gu Naaw Anandaaw

Mother Types

• Biological Mother
  Gives birth
  
• Caring Mother
  Takes care
  
• Adoptive Mother
  Adopt a child from a relative or others (e.g. via an Adoption Agency)
  
• Surrogate Mother
  Conceives a child for someone who cannot give birth naturally (e.g. due to medical conditions)
  
• Classification schemes vary with place, culture and time …

Mother’s Day

• USA and several countries
  Second Sunday of May
  e.g. May 9, 2021

• Myanmar
  Full Moon Day of Pyatho

• Others
  Dates vary with countries

Media

• Songs
  e.g. M-O-T-H-E-R
• Books
• Movies
  

Thanks to Four Mothers

My Beloved Mother
(Let Oo Saya)

My Beloved Wife
(Life Long Supporter)

My Mother-in-law
(Took care of several Grand Kids)

My Daughter-in-law
(Raising my loving Myees

• There are Urban Myths and Legends.
• There are Fact Checking sites.
• Many Myths have been debunked, but they still appear in posts.
• Do not share Myths without verifying them first.

U E Maung is not Bagyi Aung

• A post wrongly said Professor U E Maung was “Bagyi Aung”. It was liked and/or shared by thousands of readers even after U Nay Oke (St. Paul’s) had given TEDx InyaLake talk about his mother (Daw Khin Saw Mu), father (ICS U Ba Tint), his Bagyi (ICS U Tin Tut) and Minthuwun (Saya U Wun).
  U Nay Oke mentioned that the four main characters in “Bagyi Aung Nyar De” have all passed away.
• The three younger sisters were in the charge of ICS U Tin Tut especially during the school / university holidays.
• ICS U Ba Tint was U Tin Tut’s deputy.

Dr. Htin Aung is not Bagyi Aung

• The earlier wrong version said that Dr. Htin Aung was Bagyi Aung.
• At least the names share “Aung”.

ICS U Tin Tut is Bagyi Aung

• The knowledge was a family secret, but it was later known by close friends.
• U Nay Oke (St. Paul’s) gave a TEDx InyaLake talk on the subject.

• In the US, second Sunday of May is celebrated as Mother’s Day.
• For multi-generational families, it would also be Grandmother’s Day and Great Grandmother’s Day as well.

• Some countries and cultures celebrate “Mother’s Day” on a different day.
  In Myanmar, it is celebrated on the Full Moon Day of Pyatho.
  
• The first words that most people learn in their lives include the following and their variants.
  Mum, Mummy, Mom, Mommy, Mah Mah, May May, …

• We extend the term Mother to our schools (e.g. Alma Mater)
  and our country (e.g. Motherland).
• In idiomatic usage, Mother is “the hand that rocked the cradle”.
• Mother’s unbounded love is honored in many real-life stories (e.g. “Toe Aye” ship wreck).

• The following song has been recorded by many artists.
• I have reprinted a sample verse.
  The verses may have variations.

M-O-T-H-E-R (song)

M is for the Mercy she possesses
(Variant: Million things she gave me)

O means Only that she’s growing Old
(Variant : that I Owe her all I owe)

T is for her Tender sweet caresses
(Variant : for the Tears she shed to save me)

H is for her Heart of purest gold
(Variant: her Hand that touch and hold)

E means Everything she’s done to save me

R means Right and Right she’ll always be

Put them all together

They spell MOTHER

A word that means a world to me

​My Beloved Mother

I would like to acknowledge my beloved mother. When we were young, she would wake up before her housemaids at 4 a.m. to prepare breakfast for us. She supervised our homework when we were in primary and middle school. She bought us cameras (e.g. Yashica and Kodak), bicycles (e.g. Rayleigh and Hercules), scooter (e.g. Silver Pigeon), cars (e.g. Datsun and Dodge Jeep), two typewriters (e.g. Remington for English, Olympia for Burmese), musical instruments (e.g. guitar, harmonica), comics (e.g. Beano, Dandy, Topper, Beezer), Classics Illustrated and Junior Classics Illustrated, “How and Why” series, “Myanmar Swel Sone Kyan” (Burmese Encyclopedia), Reader’s Digest and other periodicals, to name a few.

Although my parents were devout Buddhists, they sent their children to SPHS (St. Pauls’s High School) and SJC (St. John’s Convent) — run by the Roman Catholic missionaries — to get a good education.

The seeds that were sown by my beloved parents have bloomed allowing me to pay back to my alma mater and my community.

I have served as

• Organizer, SPZP-2000
• Chief Editor of “RIT Alumni International Newsletter”
  and Editor of several other newsletters (BAPS Newsletter, Dhammananda Newsletter)
• Contributor to the Encyclopedia of Asian American Folklife and Folklore (published by ABC CLIO)
• Burmese Language expert for a course developed by the National Foreign Language Center,
  University of Maryland (College Park)
• Docent at Computer History Museum
• Distinguished Toastmaster (DTM) at Toastmasters International
• Translator/interpreter at meditation retreats (e.g. at Tathagata Mediatation Center)
• Editor of books and magazines
  Homage to Sayadaw U Silanandabhivamsa
  Collection of dhamma talks by Sayadaw U Silananda
  Three books by Sayadaw U Jotalankara
  90th Anniversary Issue of RUBC.YUBC)
  Bawa and Dhamma
  Cetana Thi Thar Kan

Without my mother’s exhortation “Eyes have you and you see not, Ears have you and you hear not, …”, and “Any thing that’s worth doing is worth doing well”, I would not be here today.

Thanks, mom.

St. Paul’s High School (SPHS)

• Motto : “Labor Omnia Vincit“.
• Means “Hard work conquers everything”.

My Beloved Parents

• Their motto : “Anything that’s worth doing is worth doing well“.
• My mother would scold me lightly by saying “Eyes have you and you see not. Ears have you and you hear not.”
• She would tell the story of Robert Bruce and the spider, and remind us “If at first you don’t succeed, try, try and try again.”

RUBC (Rangoon University Boat Club)

• Motto : “Row Till You Are Dead.”
• The background story is covered in Sir Arthur Eggar’s autobiography and in the commemorative issues for the 40th and 90th Anniversary of the founding of RUBC.
• RUBC members are used to the shout “Give her a ten” during a race (especially near the finish line), and also at the Close of the Awards Presentation at the Regatta.
• After a long day, in the tradition of RUBC, I shout, “Give her a ten”.
  10 – 9 – 8 – 7 – 6 – 5 – 4 – 3 – 2 -1
  followed by
  EASY OARS.

Companies

• The motto may change over time.
• International Business Machines (IBM)’s slogan was “Think“.
• General Electric (GE)’s claim to fame was “Built to last.“