Photo: CYCK

Seventy-three is not a remarkable number. It is not divisible by anything but itself and one. In people, it is a slow time. One is not old enough to be considered of great age but is too old to be in youth. It is a time plagued by mediocrity, fragility, and the aches and pains of osteoarthritis. Yet, for the Karen people, 73 marks a great time that still holds the power of youth and is livelier than ever. It represents an ongoing spirit for us, and shows the firmness of our belief. 

This year marks the 73rd year of the Karen honor for those who fight for our sovereignty, for it has been 73 years since our forebear Saw Ba U Gyi lost his life in 1950 fighting for what he believed in. 75 years ago, in 1948, our predecessors in Kawthoolei thought it well to have a land where Karen people could enjoy their lives, peaceful and unbothered. They declared our grievances under the tyrannical government of Burma. In the woes of an authoritarian regime, the voices of our forebears did not quaver. And likewise, in the ensuing war, waver their spirits did not. These years have represented a time of trial and tribulation for our people. We have lost battles. We have lost land. We have lost brothers and sisters. But one thing we have not lost is hope. And though we have spread in diaspora across the ends of the earth, we continue to be unified by this hope, for it is what makes us Karen. Hope in victory. Hope in our land. Hope in peace. Hope in Kawthoolei.

Let us shine brightly and elegantly like a diamond, declaring ourselves to the world. Let also be strong and withstanding. For what good are the lives and deaths of our forebears if we give up? In this time, let me remind you. It is not enough for us to remember the fallen. It is not enough to remember the efforts of martyrs such as Saw Ba U Gyi and his four ultimatums: no surrender, a recognition of the Karen State, ability to retain arms, and state autonomy. What would we be but fools, bystanders to our very own cause? The enemy of achievement is idleness. In no world can we achieve the Kawthoolei Saw Ba U Gyi shared his vision of just by waiting. Because by not continuing the dream those who came before us began, the very graves we dug for them, once wet with the tears of our grief, become wet with the spit of our disrespect.

But to the Karen people who fight, I applaud you. You choose to stand against tyranny and authoritarianism, even against all odds. You stand as a beacon of hope for those all around, not only in Burma but throughout the earth. Your will is not forgotten, and you are the carrier of the torch that is the ideals of our predecessors. We who do not fight cannot fathom the struggles faced, nor can we see through the walls to overcome. We can only pray that you stay safe so that you may hopefully be able to live peacefully in our homeland. 

Today, our dream has turned hard as stone. It has shown our grit time and time again, and has polished itself to an astounding degree. With the military regime having taken control over the entire nation of Burma once more, our ideals ring true. It is now clearer than ever before: we need sovereignty.

In a nation that has fallen silent once more to the evils of its military, I do not hear a silence in Kawthoolei. I hear the banging of a loud frog drum, declaring its fight as a beam of light in the midst of a dark quiet, a diamond amongst coal. Its sound sings the voices of our forebears, of our brothers and sisters, and of our children. For all these years, this drum has not gone quiet, and I pray that it never shall but in only victory