The first sentence of the first official greeting letter to the Karen New Year in 1938 read:

“We are emerging from isolation into the stream of national affairs.” [1]

What a forward-looking statement. It calls for a break from the old tactic of survival, where isolation helped our ancestor preserve their existence. Modernity has brought connectivity and interaction, while no unclaimed mountains we can run to hide or unoccupied plains to be discovered.

Our nation has faced the ravage of war for generations. The destructions ensued are at multiple levels.

Physically, our people move out everywhere. Many people from delta moved up away even into Kachin Land; likewise, people from hill districts fled their ancestral lands.

Linguistically, many of new generations lose ability to speak their mother tongue natively. With that, we lost not just the language, but the stories, proverbs, teachings, the values that our ancestors upheld and passed down for ages. Above all, with decline of the language, many lost their respect and to their heritage and spirit of the nation.

In education, we are taught to be an “ethnic minority”, the label to break our spirit. It comes with a package. Persecuting minority does not sound uncommon any longer since “persecuted minority” always found together in English. Minority can’t govern themselves. Minority are backward people. More.

Yet, we, the Karen People, are still here.

Whereas stream of technological progress is overflowing the world. Physically, we may be spreading all over the world, but digital technology enables us to create a global community and to connect in real time.

The war of revolution is still high. Our soldiers in the front line rely on machine-intelligence devices, yet satellite technology, to make a battle decisive. Our headquarters are facing electronic warfare just like any contemporary conflicts among nations where adversaries penetrate each other using digital technology.

Technology has arrived at everyone’s fingertip, but only who learn and harness its power will prevail. Our people will not survive by default for the next 50 years staying aloof.

Excessive obsession with soccer tournaments and A-Laa-Mal competitions may not set us up for winning in this new global competition. While surrounded by lurking predators of human-trafficking business, these fun activities bring youth to the wrong direction, hence the nation.

To be an acceptable soccer player in the game, it takes a decade of practice. We can’t effort to drain the golden youthful years to waste while youths in many nations are working hard pushing their technological edges.

A beauty pageant (beauty contest) assumes that some of our people not beautiful enough. It can’t be a fair competition either while many are hiding and fleeing their homes.

 
Let's set ourselves for success, first. 

Fun times will follow when we build our foundation strong; the foundation of liberty, virtue, and progress are strong.

Finally, I will greet as the tradition goes:

Happy Karen New Year 2763!

​မၤ​န့ၢ်​အီၣ်​ကဲ ​ပူၤ​ဒူၣ်​ပူၤ​ဒါ

Work hard. Eat well. Have a prosperous new year.

Saw Lahkbaw