pattern recognition

people always say that hindsight is 20/20...and it's a rather sad statement, really. there's a sense of defeat that permeates it...an inherent "nothing can be done because it's already happened" attitude. it saddens me particularly when I think about the impact of katrina, the rwandan genocide, the vietnam war, and the many more devastations that could have been avoided or the consequences lessened if only there was willpower and humility on the part of stakeholders.

I've been following the ongoing protests in Burma/Myanmar since the beginning of the news coverage internationally, and it's dawned on me how history is a process rather than something to look back on. it's strange to be living it, and realizing that we will probably not recognize its significance until years later...where people will mourn, and say with some dismay, "if only..."

I think I might be confusing you at this point, but perhaps let me put it like this:

in reading about Burma, and the monks' struggle to speak out against the country's militarist and dictatorial regime, I'm reminded of history makers like Mahatma Gandhi, Martin Luther King Jr, Nelson Mandela, and certainly Aung San Suu Kyi...whose choice in remaining under house arrest for decades as a sign of protest continues to give hope to the Burmese population. The violence that is being thrashed upon the monks reminds me of the Tiananmen Square protests, and in more recent years, the protests in Montreal and Seattle re: the WTO.

reading the news is a very passive process - here I sit in my office, catching up with bbcnews.com, and history is in the making all around the world. burma has made me think about the need for urgency - instead of lamenting about past failures in bringing about peace and justice to our world, there is a demand to be pursuing it now...because oppression and injustice is happening at this very moment. instead of waiting for the 20/20 hindsight, there's a need to pursue the best sight possible at this moment, or it will soon be too late.