From a safe distance I can see

From a safe distance I can see

Published October 14, 2023. 

By Saw Lahkbaw

A tribal war in the Middle East is flaming the human minds on a global scale.  Prophetically, it is an age-old sibling rivalry between the two groups whom can’t be told apart by appearance but sharing the same cultural heritage, linguistic and spiritual root, claiming the same city as their divine endowment, two siblings descending from Father of all fathers Abraham, yet dragging the world divided into Palestinians vs Jews, Judeo-Christian vs Islam, European vs Arab, right vs liberal left, militant vs pacific – the lists are endless and contagious dividing families, communities and nations until that make no emotional or logical sense to a sound mind watching from a safe distance. 


The persecuted become the persecutor, and the seasons of oppression are cyclical under the sun.  


A region that was the credal of civilization, once progressed in Mathematics, fascinating culture, having laid scientific foundation is now wide open for tension and images of ruin.

Street protests, media narratives, political ads or public sympathy can go both ways. The conflict is ongoing in a tiny gulf country but the impact could be huge, so huge that the world could see another genocidal, racist war in this new all-seeing digital age. After this war, millions could be displaced and certain armed groups may cease to exist but hatred and grievance appear to have no end in sight. So, good-will humanitarian aid will flow to the area, and so will the business of international aid organizations be busy in the region. 



Language Proximity of Arabic and Hebrew language

source: ohiostate.pressbooks.pub Arabic and Hebrew under Semitic Language family. 

Trouble is real in the Middle East, the multi-generations conflicts going back several millennia.


Yet, 


In the Far East, a land of little known, a quiet war has been going on no-stop for generations. This war of liberation is so quiet, so obscure, that a person holding several degrees from world-class universities never heard of the “Karen People” nor “Kawthoolei”. What kind of useful things are studied in those expensive universities, except power and progress that center on self. 



Kawthoolei, commonly known in English to be a land without evils, is not based on race or religion but for all the people dwelling in the land, hence the name gestures. The indigenous attitude of the Karen people toward life often shocks outsiders with genuine hospitality, simplicity, and humility. Will these people with beautiful culture be destined for demise. 


For many, Kawthoolei is cultivating allured, yet the land is under the curse of endless suffering. So, good-hearted outsiders quickly try to portray people of Kawthoolei as needy, the land as a pitiful place, unintentionally offending the spirit of Kawthoolei. 


Kawthoolei has suffered a lot from wrongful portraying of politicization as separatists' ideas, or disintegration of "the union", and now as a victim. 


The spirit of Kawthoolei is certainly not a state of victim but a rescue of human dignity, human decency, and human equality. This land has been under the spell of a broken union rife with vices, bringing down everyone in it. This spell must be broken to end human sufferings. 


Holding onto this last generation struggle, the people are longing to be but liberated into the land of virtue and collective progress, Kawthoolei. 


Generations may come and go but Kawthoolei will stay. For Kawthoolei is a resistance to territorial encroaching, a resistance to cultural-character erosion, and a resistance to moral degradation. 


Despite all odds, a land without evil – a land without thieves, quarrel, or greed – shall prevail.



Disclaimer: Views in this article are solely those of the author and do not represent that of organizations.