မညီမျှသော ဘဝများ
I do not know his name but we became friends today.
He brought me a cup of hot tea to my table. He is a tea boy at the teashop that I've been visiting regularly for the past two months.
"I like your english handwriting. It is beautiful," was what he told me as he put the tea cup down on my table.
I was shocked. I did not know how to respond to him. I brought no stationery items except my phone today. He must have seen me writing in my journal the other day.
"Have you finished your high school," I asked, already knowing the answer to my question but that was all I could think of to strike up a conversation with him. The answer was as expected, no, of course.
He sat down with me for a few minutes, and I learnt about his upbringing. He told me that he turned seventeen recently, though he appears smaller than his age, with a shorter frame. I, too, well know the reason behind this; the nutritional deficiency, of course, takes a toll on his growth in his teenage years, as it did to many of us in this poor country.
The covid and coup wasted his early high school years. He had no other option than to drop out of school as his granny, who supported his education, passed away amid the pandemic. He is the second eldest in the family and has two younger siblings to look after now.
Don't you want to go back to school? I made a second bold move.
He took a moment before he replied to me.
The government has extended the number of high school years.... and upon completion of high school, I suppose, will have to spend more years at the university.. right? If I leave work and get back to studying, I won't be able to support my younger siblings to go to school.
He, like many tea boys in Yangon, came from the countryside, Labutta township, in the Irrawaddy division. He has been working at the teashop for just over a year now. In exchange for his work, he is being provided with temporary accommodation, food, and a small amount of monthly wages, which he has to remit to his family in Labutta.
He gets me questioning the inequality of life and social justice.
What is inequality in life? What is social justice?
Is it economic status? Is it to do with no free access to school and healthcare? Is it social privilege?
Why are they not a popular topic? And why no one likes to talk about them?
Is it to do with the fact that each of us is obsessed with ourselves; already busy with survival and the challenge of overcoming our own battles?
Is it to do with our thinking? Our perspectives? Our disparity in priorities and concerns based on our socioeconomic backgrounds?
Now ask this question yourself and be honest with the answer - would you, perhaps, consider the concern or thought currently preoccupying you to be trivial, meaning that is comparatively minor or less pressing when compared to the struggles and hardships faced by the tea boy and others in similar circumstances?