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| A typical Yangon street |
Coming from Bangkok, a huge city full of bitumen and concrete, what struck me was that here is a city with trees, parks and lakes. As the country opens up and the city faces needed development, I only hope that progress does not destroy its greenness as it is such a gift of nature and so refeshing to experience. It is actually life-giving. I also saw the grand, old buildings from colonial days. They now stand in disrepair, being testaments to what was.
Present day Yangon, standing like the old colonial buildings in somewhat disrepair and in need of a good spring clean, has such potential to be both a great and beautiful, world city. It has obviously paid the price of neglect, suffering under over 50 years of military rule where no one paid any loving attention to it. The basics of city services and infrastructure, let alone city beautification, were just ignored as money was used to build up the military and the wealth of its generals.
As I left Yangon last night, I reflected on what neglect can do not only to a city but to us. Neglect leads to decay, to growing old and death before it is really due to take place. I saw that in the streets and buildings of Yangon with its dirty, narrow, crowded streets, traffic, old cars and buses, rubbish just lying around.
As it faces needed development, the question remains what is the answer for a fruitful future. It is not just rampant development, pulling down and building up. It is about much more. You want to save what is good and enhance the beauty of its people whom I found to be warm, open and friendly, even in the midst of such public neglect and decay.
This is about much more than a city. It is about its people. The lesson of a Yangon is a lesson for humanity. Neglect destroys and leads to no life-giving future. Here a city is teaching us about life.
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