Words may gather people, but structure defines their purpose.

Words are never just words. They carry structure, intention, and sometimes power. In our daily conversations, we casually use the terms group, association, and organization as if they were interchangeable. But are they truly the same?
According to the Oxford English Dictionary, a group is defined as “a number of people or things that are located, gathered, or classed together”. The emphasis is on togetherness – not necessarily on structure. Meanwhile, Merriam-Webster describes a group as “two or more figures forming a complete unit in a composition”, again highlighting unity, but not hierarchy.
The word association, as defined by Oxford, refers to “a group of people organized for a joint purpose”. Here, the word organized quietly enters the scene. Merriam-Webster further defines it as “an organization of persons having a common interest”. A subtle shift appears from mere gathering to intentional connection.
Then comes organization. Oxford defines it as “an organized body of people with a particular purpose, especially a business, society, association, etc”. Merriam-Webster describes it as “a structured arrangement of relationships designed to achieve some purpose”. Structure, arrangement, purpose – these are no longer casual connections. They imply design and accountability.
Turning to an English-Myanmar Dictionary, group is translated as “အစု” or “အဖွဲ့”, association as “အသင်း” or “အသင်းအဖွဲ့”, and organization as “အဖွဲ့အစည်း”. In Myanmar usage, however, these terms often overlap in everyday speech. We may call a loose gathering “အဖွဲ့” and a formal institution by the same word. The linguistic boundary exists, yet in practice, it sometimes fades.
So I ask myself: when does an “အစု” become an “အသင်း”? When does an “အသင်း” evolve into an “အဖွဲ့အစည်း”? And more importantly, when does responsibility begin?
I say what I see: the difference may not lie in the number of people, but in the weight of structure they are willing to carry.
If definitions live in dictionaries, realities live in society.
In Myanmar, as in many countries around the world, we see countless groups, associations, and organizations formed with noble intentions. Some emerge from shared interests. Some arise from shared grievances. Others are established in response to national needs. On paper, their objectives are admirable. In meetings, their words are inspiring. In social media statements, unity is often declared.
Yet I say what I see: unity in language does not always translate into unity in labour.
A group may gather quickly. An association may register formally. An organization may even possess a logo, letterhead, and leadership structure. But structure alone does not guarantee solidarity. Titles do not automatically produce teamwork. Regulations do not automatically create responsibility.
In Myanmar’s social landscape, whether in civil institutions, professional bodies, community networks, or even informal collectives, fragmentation sometimes appears not because of a lack of intelligence, but because of a lack of coordinated effort. Individuals may be competent, even brilliant. Yet without discipline, shared accountability, and consistent action, the collective remains weaker than its potential.
This observation is not criticism; it is concern.
My true Cetana – goodwill – is simple. I wish to see any group, any association, any organization united not merely by declarations, but by dedication. Not only by resolutions, but by results. Not only by meetings, but by meaningful work.
I once had the responsibility of leading an organization based in Bangkok, Thailand. Leadership taught me something that no dictionary could fully explain: unity is not the absence of disagreement. It is the presence of shared commitment. Members may think differently, speak differently, or come from different backgrounds. But if they work in the same direction, the institution stands firm.
Without coordinated action, even a well-structured organization becomes a symbolic shell. With disciplined cooperation, even a small group can become a transformative force.
This is what I have seen both locally and internationally.
And this is why I reflect on the difference between gathering and governing, between association and organization, between intention and implementation.
If we look at Myanmar’s own social history, we do not need to search far for an example of what true organizational continuity means.
In Mandalay stands the Malun Rice Donation Association in Myanmar, known respectfully as မလွန် (စျေး) ဆန်လှူအသင်းတော်ကြီး. It is not a newly registered entity formed for publicity. It is not a seasonal association that appears and disappears with circumstances. It is an institution that has endured for more than a century.
Historical records show that the association was founded eleven years after King Thibaw was dethroned in 1885. It began its formation in the Myanmar Era 1258 and was granted its registration number 1253. In Mandalay, where history breathes through monasteries, markets, and memory, this rice donation association has quietly continued its philanthropic mission for over 120 years.
To survive for more than a century in Myanmar is not accidental. It requires more than noble intention. It demands structure. It demands discipline. It demands leadership succession. Most importantly, it demands collective commitment that transcends generations.
Many groups are born from enthusiasm. Few associations survive beyond their founders. Even fewer organizations remain active, adaptive, and relevant across political eras, economic transitions, and social change.
Yet this association continues its rice donation activities, not loudly, not theatrically, but steadily.
What sustains such longevity?
It is not merely shared sympathy. It is a shared system.
It is not merely goodwill. It is organized goodwill.
Here, the difference between “group” and “organization” becomes visible in real life. A group may gather around charity. An association may formalize that charity. But an organization institutionalizes it, ensuring that when one generation steps aside, another steps forward without breaking continuity.
This is what I observe in Mandalay. And this is why I believe unity must be measured not by slogans, but by sustainability.
In the end, the distinction between a group, an association, and an organization is not merely semantic. It is structural. It is moral. It is practical.
A group may gather.
An association may coordinate.
An organization must endure.
From Mandalay’s century-old rice donation association to institutions I have observed beyond our borders, one lesson remains constant: longevity is built on disciplined cooperation. Unity is not declared – it is demonstrated. It is measured not by how loudly we speak together, but by how consistently we work together.
My Cetana is simple and sincere. Whatever we call ourselves – group, association, or organization – may we be united not only in name, not only in meetings, not only in resolutions, but in responsibility. For when unity moves from words to work, institutions do not merely exist; they contribute. They do not merely assemble; they sustain.
I say what I see: structure gives direction, but shared commitment gives life. And in that life lies the true strength of any collective body.
Unity is not proclaimed in speech; it is proven in service.
It is my earnest hope that Myanmar’s associations and organizations grow stronger in unity and sustainability.

gnlm

Myanmar’s Comprehensive Ban on E-Cigarettes for Public Health

Continued From yesterday
The Ministry of Health of the Republic of the Union of Myanmar issued Order 8/2026 on 18 February 2026 (3rd Waxing Day of Taboung, 1387 ME) to impose a comprehensive ban on electronic cigarettes. Exercising the authority conferred under Section 4 (a) of the Essential Supplies and Services Law, the Ministry enacted this notification in accordance with Section 9 of the said Act. The order strictly prohibits the importation, exportation, sale, possession, storage, distribution, and consumption of e-cigarettes, e-shisha, and related accessories to protect public health and prevent toxic substance addiction among young people.
The order 8/2026 now completes the architecture of Myanmar’s ENDS prohibition, adding a clear, enforceable import and export ban that gives customs officers unambiguous authority to seize prohibited products at borders and ports of entry.

Essential Contents of Myanmar’s Order 8/2026
The scope and technical precision of the order No. 8/2026 distinguish it from many earlier bans globally. Rather than a broad definitional prohibition susceptible to definitional loopholes, the Order enumerates in granular detail every product category and component part subject to the ban:
Category (a) — Electronic Cigarettes and ENDS: Mouthpieces; e-liquid containers (reservoirs, cartridges, tanks, pods); atomizers; microprocessors; batteries; chargers; charging cables; pre-filled and refillable e-liquids, including natural organic substitutes; carrying cases; cleaning tools; and all related accessories.
Category (b) — Heated Tobacco/Smoking Devices (HTPs): Holders containing heating elements and their casings; batteries; microprocessors; heating blades; heating coils; heating ovens; e-liquids and natural organic substitutes; carrying cases; cleaning tools; chargers; charging cables; and all related accessories.
Category (c) — Electronic Shisha: Mouthpieces; hoses; vases; grommets; e-liquid containers; pre- filled and refillable e-liquids, molasses, and natural organic substitutes; atomizers; microprocessors; flow sensors; batteries; chargers; charging cables; carrying cases; cleaning tools; and all related accessories.
The Order prohibits all listed items from: importation, exportation, transit, transhipment, re- exportation, storage, display, and sale — encompassing the full range of customs-related commercial activities at all border entry points throughout Myanmar.

Benefits for Myanmar’s Youth and General Public
Protecting Brain Development and Preventing Addiction
The most profound benefit of Myanmar’s e-cigarette ban is the protection it offers to the developing brains of adolescents and young adults. Nicotine is acutely neurotoxic during the critical period of brain development that extends into the mid-twenties. Nicotine exposure during adolescence permanently alters the architecture of the prefrontal cortex — the region governing decision-making, impulse control, and executive function — through its action on nicotinic acetylcholine receptors. Studies have demonstrated measurable reductions in attention, learning capacity, working memory, and impulse regulation among adolescent nicotine users. These are not temporary effects; they are permanent structural changes that disadvantage affected individuals throughout their lives.
By removing the primary supply channel of affordable, appealing nicotine products from the market, the ban directly reduces the probability that Myanmar’s young people will initiate nicotine use — and therefore protects the cognitive development and academic potential of the next generation of Myanmar’s citizens.

Preventing the Gateway to Conventional Smoking
The gateway effect of e-cigarettes is among the most robustly evidenced phenomena in tobacco research. Young people who use e-cigarettes are approximately three times more likely to transition to regular cigarette smoking than non-users. For Myanmar — already carrying a conventional tobacco burden that kills nearly 57,000 people annually — this pipeline effect would compound an existing crisis. The ban interrupts this pathway at the point of initiation, protecting Myanmar from a future in which the brief e- cigarette epidemic creates a new generation of long-term conventional smokers.

Respiratory and Cardiovascular Health Protection
The aerosol produced by e-cigarettes causes measurable respiratory and cardiovascular harm even in the short term. Ultrafine particles in the aerosol penetrate to the deepest airways, triggering inflammatory responses that, with repeated exposure, can lead to chronic bronchitis, decreased lung function, and increased susceptibility to respiratory infections, including influenza and COVID-19. Nicotine’s acute cardiovascular effects — elevated heart rate, increased blood pressure, endothelial dysfunction — elevate cardiovascular risk with every puff. The removal of these products from Myanmar’s market will prevent a cohort of respiratory and cardiovascular diseases that would otherwise have materialized in the coming decades.

Economic and Social Benefits
The economic burden of tobacco-related disease on Myanmar’s healthcare system and economy is already substantial. Every person who never initiates nicotine use through e-cigarettes represents savings in future healthcare expenditure, preserved workforce productivity, and reduced family suffering. For a health system with limited resources, prevention through supply restriction is among the most cost- effective public health interventions available. The social benefits of denormalizing vaping — reversing the re-glamorization of nicotine use that the industry engineered — are equally significant, as social norms powerfully shape youth behaviour.

Making the Ban Effective: What Must Follow
The issuance of Order 8/2026 is a necessary but not sufficient condition for effective e-cigarette prohibition. The experiences of Thailand, Singapore, and India — countries that have operated comprehensive bans for a decade or more — provide clear lessons on what transforms a policy declaration into an on-the-ground reality.

Comprehensive Legislation
The order governs border entry and exit but does not explicitly address domestic manufacture, internal trade, possession, or use. Myanmar needs dedicated ENDS legislation — ideally as an amendment to the existing Control of Smoking and Consumption of Tobacco Products Law — that covers the complete product lifecycle within the country. This legislation should specify criminal penalties, establish clear enforcement responsibilities across multiple agencies (customs, police, health inspectors, local authorities), and include provisions for asset forfeiture in large-scale trafficking cases.

Enforcement Capacity Building
Myanmar’s borders — particularly informal crossing points with China, Thailand, and India — represent the most vulnerable points for contraband vaping product entry. Investment in customs officer training, detection equipment, and intelligence-sharing arrangements with neighbouring countries’ enforcement agencies is essential. The Ministry of Commerce and the Customs Department should establish dedicated ENDS enforcement units with clear key performance indicators. Market surveillance in urban retail and online environments must be systematic, not reactive.

Online Platform Regulation
The primary marketplace for e-cigarettes in Myanmar is not the physical shop but Facebook, TikTok, Telegram, and other social media platforms. A ban that does not address online sales and promotion will be substantially undermined. Regulatory authority must be extended to require platform operators to remove ENDS listings and advertising, with penalties for non-compliance. This requires both legal authority and the technical capacity to monitor and enforce.

Public Education and Demand Reduction
Supply restriction through border control addresses availability but not demand. A comprehensive public health communication campaign — designed specifically for adolescents and young adults, delivered through the channels they actually use, and employing messages that resonate with youth values of autonomy, authenticity, and peer respect — is essential to reduce demand. The campaign should specifically counter the industry’s marketing narratives: that vaping is harmless, that it is a lifestyle choice rather than an addiction, and that it is socially desirable. Schools, universities, monasteries, community health workers, and healthcare providers all have roles to play in this communication effort.

Cessation Support for Existing Users
An unknown but significant number of Myanmar residents are already nicotine-dependent through e- cigarette use. A ban without parallel investment in cessation services will either drive these individuals towards conventional cigarettes or towards the contraband market — outcomes that undermine the public health rationale for the ban. Evidence-based cessation support — nicotine replacement therapy, brief behavioural counselling, and telephone quitlines — must be made accessible through the existing township health system.

Monitoring and Accountability
The effectiveness of the ban must be measured, not assumed. A national surveillance system — building on the existing STEPS and Global Youth Tobacco Survey frameworks — should be established to track ENDS prevalence annually among youth and adults, monitor contraband market activity, and evaluate the impact of enforcement and education interventions. This evidence base will be essential for adaptive management and for reporting to the WHO FCTC Secretariat.

Conclusion
Myanmar’s Order 8/2026 is a landmark public health measure — a decisive, comprehensive, and technically thorough prohibition on the importation, exportation, and trade in all forms of electronic smoking devices and their components. It places Myanmar firmly alongside India, Thailand, Singapore, Cambodia, and Laos in the most protective tier of global e-cigarette regulation, fulfilling Myanmar’s obligations under the WHO FCTC and acting on the urgent call of COP11.
The order arrives after years in which Myanmar’s young people were exposed to an unregulated flood of nicotine products, and after a period in which Myanmar’s robust achievements on conventional tobacco control — its globally-ranked pictorial health warning requirements and its progression towards plain packaging — were undermined by the absence of ENDS-specific measures. The ban corrects this inconsistency and restores the integrity of Myanmar’s comprehensive tobacco control framework.
But as this article has argued, the order is the beginning of a journey, not its destination. Thailand, Singapore, and India demonstrate that comprehensive bans are most effective when supported by strong domestic legislation, well-resourced enforcement, targeted public education, and accessible cessation services. Myanmar now has the policy declaration. The measure of success will be whether the institutions, resources, and political will are marshalled to make that declaration real.
E-cigarettes are not an escape from nicotine addiction. They are its newest and most seductive gateway. Myanmar has taken the right step in closing that gateway. Let us ensure the door remains firmly shut — for the health, the futures, and the freedom of Myanmar’s next generation.
The author is a public health specialist and WHO Guest Adviser who attended the WHO FCTC COP11 Conference in Geneva, November 2025.

References
1. World Health Organization. WHO Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (WHO FCTC) — Report of the Conference of the Parties, Eleventh Session (COP11). Geneva: WHO; November 2025. Available at: https://fctc.who.int/
2. World Health Organization. The global prevalence of e-cigarettes in youth: A comprehensive systematic review and meta-analysis. Geneva: WHO; 2025.
3. Myint HS, Hlaing SH, Htay N. Prevalence of e-cigarette use among tobacco smokers in six states and regions of Myanmar. Myanmar Health Sciences Research Journal. 2020.
4. Global Youth Tobacco Survey (GYTS) 2016 Data. Prevalence and determinants of tobacco use among youth in Myanmar. Atlanta: CDC/WHO; 2016.
5. Singapore Ministry of Health. FAQs on E-Cigarettes, Vapourizers and Heat-Not-Burn Tobacco Products. Singapore: MOH; 2018.
6. Republic of the Union of Myanmar, Ministry of Health, Order 8/2026: Nay Pyi Taw: 18February 2026.
7. The author. E-Cigarette Danger: A Growing Global and National Burden. Global New Light of Myanmar. Yangon: GNLM; 20 December 2025.

gnlm

What Is an E-Cigarette?
Electronic cigarettes — commonly known as e-cigarettes, vapes, vapourizers, or Electronic Nicotine Delivery Systems (ENDS) — are battery-powered devices that heat a liquid solution to produce an aerosol that is inhaled by the user. Unlike conventional cigarettes, which generate smoke through the combustion of tobacco leaf, e-cigarettes operate through an electrical heating mechanism that vapourizes a chemical liquid, commonly called e-liquid or e-juice. This fundamental distinction — vapourization rather than combustion — was the cornerstone of the industry’s early marketing claim that e-cigarettes are ‘safer’ than traditional smoking. That claim, as the global scientific community has firmly established, is dangerously misleading.
E-cigarettes come in numerous forms: cigarlike devices that resemble conventional cigarettes, pen-style vapourizers, tank-based mods, and the increasingly ubiquitous pod systems and disposable single-use devices. Heated tobacco products (HTPs) such as IQOS, and electronic shisha or e-hookah devices fall within the broader category of emerging tobacco and nicotine products regulated under international frameworks.

Core Components
All e-cigarette devices share three essential components: a battery providing the power source; an atomizer (heating coil) that converts e-liquid to aerosol; and the e-liquid reservoir — a cartridge, tank, pod, or bottle containing the consumable solution. The e-liquid itself contains a mixture of propylene glycol and vegetable glycerin as the base carrier, nicotine in concentrations ranging from zero to over 50 milligrammes per millilitre in some products, flavouring agents — which may number in the thousands across products — and additional chemical additives.
Crucially, the e-liquid and the aerosol it generates are not inert. Heating these compounds produces new chemical species not present in the original liquid. At high temperatures, propylene glycol and glycerin decompose to form formaldehyde, acetaldehyde, and acrolein — substances classified as known or probable human carcinogens by the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC). The flavouring compound diacetyl, widely used in buttery and creamy flavour variants, is firmly linked to bronchiolitis obliterans — a severe, irreversible obliterative lung disease colloquially known as ‘popcorn lung.’ Heavy metals, including nickel, tin, and lead, have been detected in e-cigarette aerosols, leached from heating coil components.

Global and Myanmar Prevalence
The Global Vaping Epidemic
The global growth of e-cigarette use has been extraordinary in both scale and speed. From a niche consumer product a decade ago, the global e-cigarette market had attracted an estimated 82 million users by 2021, up from 68 million in 2020 — a 20.6 per cent increase in a single year. The South-East Asia region alone accounted for approximately 14.3 million users in 2021. Market analysts project the global ENDS industry to exceed US$55 billion in annual revenue by 2030, driven by aggressive expansion into low- and middle-income markets across Asia, Africa, and Latin America.
The demographic profile of e-cigarette uptake is perhaps its most alarming feature. According to the World Health Organization’s 2025 systematic review and meta-analysis on global youth e-cigarette prevalence, at least 15 million children aged 13 to 15 years currently use e-cigarettes worldwide. Children are, on average, nine times more likely to use e-cigarettes than adults in surveyed countries. Among youth aged 16 to 19 years, current usage rates range from 7.7 to 9.4 per cent across countries — figures that represent an unprecedented epidemic of nicotine addiction initiation among a generation that had never smoked conventional cigarettes.
The tobacco industry’s strategy is explicit in its internal documents: recruit a new generation of nicotine- dependent consumers to replace adults who quit or die from smoking-related diseases. The instrument of this recruitment is the e-cigarette — packaged in child-friendly designs, available in thousands of sweet and fruity flavours, priced at pocket money levels in disposable form, and promoted through social media platforms where young people spend the majority of their leisure time.

Myanmar’s Burden
In Myanmar, e-cigarette use has expanded rapidly against an already concerning backdrop of conventional tobacco use. National STEPS survey data recorded an adult smoking prevalence of approximately 26 per cent, and an estimated 56,841 people die annually in Myanmar from smoking- related diseases — a figure that will grow as the downstream health consequences of the emerging vaping epidemic materialize.
A 2020 study of tobacco smokers across six states and regions of Myanmar found that 11.6 per cent of respondents reported ever having used an e-cigarette. Use was significantly concentrated among males, students, youth aged 18 to 29 years, and residents of Mandalay Region — the demographic groups most targeted by the industry’s marketing. Data from the 2016 Global Youth Tobacco Survey showed that smoking prevalence among students aged 13 to 15 in Myanmar had already risen from 6.8 per cent in 2011 to 8.3 per cent in 2016, before the explosive growth of affordable disposable vapes in subsequent years.

WHO FCTC: The International Call for Action
The World Health Organization Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (WHO FCTC), which entered into force in 2005 and to which Myanmar acceded in 2004, remains the world’s first international public health treaty and the cornerstone of global tobacco control. It’s 182 Parties collectively represent over 90 per cent of the world’s population, making it one of the most widely adopted treaties in United Nations history.
The 11th Conference of the Parties (COP11) to the WHO FCTC, held in Geneva, Switzerland from 16 to 22 November 2025, placed ENDS and emerging nicotine products at the centre of its deliberations. I attended COP11 as a WHO Guest Advisor. The consensus of COP11 was unambiguous: e-cigarettes represent a dangerous gateway that leads young people towards conventional cigarette use through nicotine addiction, and the protection of youth must be the paramount priority for all Member States.

Key COP11 Resolutions and Positions
• All Member States resolved to prioritize protective measures for youth against e-cigarettes and to establish strict regulations, treating the issue as an urgent public health emergency rather than a commercial regulatory matter.
• The Conference reaffirmed that e-cigarettes are not an approved smoking cessation therapy — the WHO does not recommend ENDS for cessation — and that framing them as harm reduction tools plays into the tobacco industry’s strategy of delay and deception.
• Member States were called upon to implement the full range of FCTC provisions — particularly Articles 5.3 (protection from industry interference), 8 (protection from secondhand exposure), 11 (packaging and labelling), and 13 (advertising, promotion and sponsorship bans) — as applied to ENDS products.

• Countries that had not yet enacted ENDS-specific legislation were urged to do so without delay, citing the accelerating youth epidemic and the industry’s deliberate targeting of unregulated markets.
• The Conference strongly emphasized that the tobacco and vaping industries must be excluded from all policy-making processes relating to tobacco and ENDS control, in line with Article 5.3.
The FCTC framework provides Myanmar — and all Parties — with both the legal mandate and the technical guidance to act decisively. Myanmar’s Customs Order 8/2026 is a direct response to these international obligations and the conclusions of COP11.

Global Situation: How the World Has Responded
The international policy landscape on e-cigarettes is now clearly bifurcating into two camps: countries that have enacted comprehensive bans or severe restrictions, and those that have opted for regulatory frameworks. The trend among public health leaders — particularly in Asia — is decisively towards prohibition.

Comprehensive Prohibition Countries
More than 35 countries have enacted comprehensive bans on the sale, importation, and/or use of e- cigarettes. India’s 2019 Prohibition of Electronic Cigarettes Ordinance — subsequently enacted as permanent legislation — banned production, manufacture, import, export, transport, sale, distribution, storage, and advertisement of all ENDS products, with penalties of up to 3 years imprisonment for repeat offences. Brazil’s ANVISA has maintained a ban since 2009, one of the earliest in the world. Thailand’s ban, enacted under the Customs Act in 2014, carries penalties of up to 10 years imprisonment. Singapore’s prohibition under the Tobacco (Control of Advertisements and Sale) Act has been comprehensively enforced since 2016. Cambodia and Laos both prohibit ENDS, meaning every one of Myanmar’s neighbouring countries to the east and south had acted years before Myanmar’s 2026 order.

Strict Regulatory Frameworks
The European Union’s Tobacco Products Directive (TPD) and its 2024 revisions represent the most detailed regulatory framework for ENDS globally, limiting nicotine concentrations to 20 milligrammes per millilitre, restricting tank volumes, mandating health warnings covering 30 per cent of packaging, and prohibiting characterizing flavors in many member states. The United Kingdom, following its post-Brexit regulatory divergence, has adopted a ‘regulated authorization’ approach while pursuing stricter youth protection measures, including a generational tobacco ban. Australia, after a period of prescription-only access, moved in 2024 toward a phased ban on commercial disposable vapes.

The Industry’s Preferred Markets
Indonesia, the Philippines, and several Central Asian and African nations remain as relatively permissive markets where the tobacco industry has concentrated its promotional efforts. This deliberate targeting of unregulated markets is a well-documented industry strategy: when one market restricts access, the industry redirects resources toward the next available jurisdiction. Myanmar’s 2026 ban removes the country from this category.

gnlm

Ko Pyae, who works at a garment factory in Hlinethaya Industrial Zone, had their phone stolen near the Aungzeya Suspension Bridge, which connects Insein and Hlinethaya. Such an incident occurred at about 9 pm when he returned home after his overtime duties at the factory. Due to the darkness at night, he could see two individuals coming towards him in the opposite direction, but he could not remember them clearly. One of the two suddenly held the handle of a bicycle ridden by Ko Pyae. As riding the bicycle was out of control for a while, another person snatched a mobile phone from the hand of Ko Pyae. As such, the bicycle fell over. Because the two sides were uneven in strength, all Ko Pyae could do was shout, asking why they took his phone. The two thieves ran toward the suspension bridge, but Ko Pyae could not pursue them.
Ko Pyae’s mother remarked, “If there were a proper electricity supply, this wouldn’t have happened. Even now, the power is out. Because it’s dark, it gives people who do bad things an opportunity. Fortunately, the two snatchers did not attack his son.”From then on, no matter what happens, Ko Pyae does not work extra time. In some neighbourhoods of Yangon, the power outage at night forces people to rely on the light from their mobile phones. This situation creates opportunities for wrongdoers, thieves, and criminals to commit theft. Not only in Yangon but also in other major cities, including Mandalay, darkness at night gives criminals the chance to commit bad deeds. They break the law without fear, committing theft, robbery, and even murder.

Electricity is an essential infrastructure for the daily routine of the people and their education, healthcare and economic sectors. Only then will the supply of electricity help operate industries at full capacity and the productivity improve. Consequently, electricity can benefit the socioeconomic life of the people and the development of relevant regions.

“Everyone needs to take care when going outside at night. Some criminals commit robbery openly. Those robbers not only take property but also harm the victims. I have experienced a case where a victim was struck on the head in an attempt to kill him. Fortunately, he escaped death. But his motorcycle was taken,” said a resident of Mandalay.
People like Ko Pyae, who are unavoidably travelling at night, are suffering from the disadvantages of insufficient electrification. Lighting along the routes reduces the fear and worries of people with mental health issues. Street lighting prevents wrongdoers and criminals from taking advantage of darkness to break the law. Under the light, their movements can be easily seen, reducing the opportunity for them to commit crimes.
Electricity is an essential infrastructure for the daily routine of the people and their education, healthcare and economic sectors. Only then will the supply of electricity help operate industries at full capacity and the productivity improve. Consequently, electricity can benefit the socioeconomic life of the people and the development of relevant regions.
When the urban lifestyle improves, newer electronic equipment flows into the market day by day. On the other hand, the electricity consumption of the people exceeds the generating capacity of the energy, causing a high electricity demand. As such, it remains a challenge in electrifying houses and roads and fully meeting the power needs required to maintain the productivity of factories and industries.

Main arteries of Myanmar — the Ayeyawady, the Chindwin, the Thanlwin and the Sittoung rivers — are primary sources to generate hydropower. In fact, hydropower is one of the renewable energies. Due to minimizing carbon emissions, hydropower is an environmentally friendly way to generate energy.

The government is urging people to follow electricity-saving methods to help meet the nation’s power needs. In addition to conservation measures, efforts are also being made to explore both short- and long-term ways to increase electricity production.
The majority of countries across the world manage to generate electricity from nuclear, hydropower, natural gas, coal, solar energy, wind power, biofuel, tidal power, geothermal energy and other waste. As no two countries can be similar in strong and weak points, every country needs to utilize the necessary resources suitable for it.
No matter what energy source is used, there are always both advantages and disadvantages. No electricity generation brings only benefits without any harm. However, by carefully considering factors such as energy efficiency, the natural environment, and economic impacts, and with the advancement of modern technology, efforts can be made to maximize benefits while minimizing negative effects.
Rivers and creeks, hilly areas and heavy rainfalls in Myanmar are wonderful resources to implement hydropower projects. Myanmar possesses great potential for generating hydropower. So, the country ranks 14th worldwide in terms of abundant hydropower resources. It is necessary to manage the comprehensive utilization of such an advantage, and if Myanmar effectively utilizes hydropower, it could meet the country’s current electricity demand while also generating foreign exchange through the energy sector.
Main arteries of Myanmar — the Ayeyawady, the Chindwin, the Thanlwin and the Sittoung rivers — are primary sources to generate hydropower. In fact, hydropower is one of the renewable energies. Due to minimizing carbon emissions, hydropower is an environmentally friendly way to generate energy.
As for Myanmar, although initial agreements were made to develop hydropower, various factors have delayed the continued implementation of these projects. According to assessments conducted in 2005, it was estimated that hydropower resources could generate around 45,000 megawatts. However, due to various reasons, actual production has not yet reached this potential, with current output achieving only slightly over seven per cent of the projected capacity.
Based on observations, the Shwesaryay hydropower project and Htamanthi hydropower project will be implemented on the Chindwin River, the Tahsan hydropower project on the Thanlwin River and the Myitson hydropower project on the Ayeyawady River. It was assessed that the hydropower project, located far upstream on the Ayeyawady River, 23 miles (37 kilometres) from Myitkyina in Kachin State, is expected to meet the electricity demand of the growing population in the future. China is prepared to implement the construction of eight dams, including Chipwenge dam, generating 99 megawatts, which can be provided for the construction of seven reservoirs and seven dams at the confluence of the N’Maikha (Maykha) and Malikha rivers, where the Ayeyawady River originates, and tributary rivers to generate some 20,000 megawatts.
SPIC stated that the largest project can generate 6,000 megawatts, the Laiza (Maliyang) project 2,800 megawatts, the Chipwe project 3,400 megawatts, the Usauk project 2,500 megawatts, the Phisau project 2,400 megawatts, the Khaunglanphu project 3,000 megawatts, the Rinan project 1,400 megawatts, totalling more than 20,000 megawatts. Upon completion, these projects will help Myanmar and its people expect a 100 per-cent-electricity supply across the nation in 2030. If so, based on hydropower resources, a strong energy sector can be established in the future to support economic growth and development.
Whether employees are returning home late at night or have to travel out of necessity, the anxiety caused by darkness while moving around can now be overcome. With the support of advanced technology, standards for environmental protection, social and community impacts, potential losses of water resources, and long-term sustainability based on the projects have all been carefully considered. For these reasons, there is no longer any justification for Myanmar’s lifeline, the Ayeyawady River, to be neglected or left at risk.
The public understands that the hydropower projects halted for various reasons are the main cause of insufficient electricity. Looking to the future, they hope that these projects will bring light, benefiting Myanmar and all ethnic communities across the country.
Translated.

gnlm

There is a particular ache that comes from harm that was never acknowledged. No apology. No explanation. No moment of reckoning where someone admits, “I hurt you.” Instead, there is silence — and that silence can feel like a second wound layered over the first.
When you don’t receive the closure you wanted (the closure you deserved), the mind keeps searching for resolution. It replays scenes, edits conversations, imagines alternative endings. But healing cannot depend on someone else’s willingness to take responsibility. At some point, peace has to become an inside job.
1. Validate your own pain: You do not need their confession to confirm that you were hurt. Write it down. Speak it out loud. Admit to yourself what happened and how it affected you. Self-validation replaces the acknowledgement you never received.
2. Stop waiting for the perfect apology: Sometimes we remain emotionally stuck because we believe closure will arrive in the form of regret from the other person. But waiting keeps the wound open. Accepting that the apology may never come is painful – yet freeing.
3. Separate accountability from your worth: Their refusal to apologize reflects their limitations, not your value. Someone’s inability to say “I’m sorry” is not proof that you were wrong for feeling hurt.
4. Create your own closure ritual: Write a letter you never sent. Burn it. Tear it up. Pray over it. Journal your final words. Symbolic acts can help the brain register an ending, even when reality failed to provide one.
5. Redirect your energy: Instead of investing emotional strength into replaying the past, pour it into growth – therapy, creativity, fitness, spiritual practices, meaningful relationships. Healing accelerates when your life expands beyond the wound.
6. Practise forgiveness for yourself: You may blame yourself for not seeing red flags, for trusting too much, for staying too long. Release that guilt. You made decisions with the information and emotional capacity you had at the time.
Healing from unapologized pain is not about pretending it didn’t matter. It mattered. It shaped you. It hurt. But you are allowed to move forwards even without their acknowledgement.
And when you stop waiting for someone else to finish the story, you finally regain the pen in your own hands.

gnlm

Cancer of the Body: Malignancy Without Contagion
Cancer of the body evokes profound fear because it has structure, location, and measurable progression. It arises when cells lose their regulatory discipline and begin to multiply for their own survival rather than for the organism they belong to. Yet despite its destructive potential, cancer possesses one important limitation: it is not contagious. It does not spread through proximity, touch, or communication. It originates from within the individual’s own biological system, representing a failure of internal regulation rather than invasion by an external agent. Its threat is intimate, but not transmissible.

Cancer of the Mind: Malignancy of Thought
The mind can develop an analogous form of malignancy, not in tissue but in patterns. Certain thoughts – fear, despair, self-negation – may initially serve adaptive purposes but later become self-perpetuating. Fear that protects becomes anxiety that imprisons. Reflection that enlightens becomes rumination that paralyzes. These cognitive patterns, like malignant cells, escape normal regulatory mechanisms. They replicate automatically, shaping perception and narrowing psychological flexibility. In conditions such as depression or trauma, these patterns operate with a form of autonomy, sustaining themselves even in the absence of immediate threat.

Psychological Contagion: Transmission Without Pathogens
Unlike cancer of the body, cancer of the mind exists within a social and communicative environment. Human beings are inherently receptive to one another’s emotional and cognitive states. Through emotional contagion, observational learning, and shared narratives, maladaptive mental states can propagate across individuals. Neuroscientific research demonstrates that mirror neuron systems and empathic processes allow one person’s despair, fear, or cynicism to influence another’s neural and emotional equilibrium. In this sense, psychological malignancy becomes transmissible – not through cells, but through ideas, symbols, and repeated exposure.

Collective Mind: When Malignancy Becomes Cultural
When such patterns spread widely, they may become embedded in collective consciousness. Traumatized communities often internalize persistent narratives of helplessness or threat. These narratives replicate across generations, shaping expectations and behaviour independently of present reality. The pathology is no longer confined to individual psychology but becomes systemic, sustained by social reinforcement. What begins as an internal dysregulation can evolve into a shared psychological environment.

Awareness as Regulation and Remedy
The mind, however, possesses a unique protective capacity: awareness itself. To observe a thought is to interrupt its automatic authority. Neuroplasticity allows new cognitive and emotional pathways to emerge through reflection, connection, and meaning. Just as maladaptive states can spread, so can resilience, hope, and stability. Psychological health is therefore not static but dynamic, continuously shaped by both internal regulation and external influence.

Conclusion: The Ecology of Mental Health
Cancer of the body threatens the organism but remains biologically contained. Cancer of the mind, while originating internally, exists within a network of minds and meanings. It can propagate through unexamined beliefs and shared despair, but it can also be contained through awareness and understanding. This dual reality reminds us that mental health is not merely an individual condition but an ecological one, sustained by the quality of both inner regulation and collective consciousness.

gnlm

I am a football fan. I always watch football matches sitting up late to watch matches from different leagues such as La Liga in Spain, Bundesliga in Germany, Calcio in Italy and Premier League in England. I especially prefer to watch Premier League Football matches. I am a delirious fan of Liverpool F.C. Out of 20 football teams which are participating in this season, I like Liverpool the most. I always support Liverpool, whether they win or lose.
I enjoy watching their matches and applaud the team. Especially, I admire M Salah (Striker) most because he can make an excellent delivery of the ball into the net (the goal-posts). He is very quick at breaking through the defensive lines of the opposite teams. The defenders of the opposite teams are always thrown into helter-skelter by his attacks. No matter how hard the defenders try to block him, he manages to score the goals, weaving his way through the footballers of the opposite team. So, his performances can take the breath of the audience away. Due to his outstanding talent, he remains a top scorer of Premier League for some years in a row. Another Liverpool footballer who can catch my attention most is Van Dijk, one of the best defenders in the Premier League. He knows very well how to block the ball carried by the players of the opposite team. He is very strong, fast and tactful. He is very competent in sliding and heading away the ball. So, to the strikers of the opposite team, he appears to be a strong defensive wall difficult to penetrate. Moreover, he always leads the team during the match. Under his leadership, Liverpool won many games and even the Premier League Trophy at the end of the last season. I also like Florian Wirtz, a new winger, who recently transferred from Leverkusen (Germany), because he is good at dribbling, passing the ball and formulating the way of playing. I notice his performances always contribute to the victories of Liverpool over other teams. So, I think he is also a promising player for the team. In this season, Liverpool is struggling to hold fast to the current champion (2025).
Last week, I went to the Dagon University Football Stadium to watch the football match between the Sports Science Team and the Chemistry Football Team, which was scheduled to kick off at 9 am. It was after 8 am when I walked into U Soe Thein’s food stall next to Dagon University Football Stadium. It was congested with many university students waiting enthusiastically to watch the match. I walked straight, sat at an empty table and ordered food. While having breakfast, I looked out at Padauk Road, lined with Padauk trees. Some hostels stood beside this road. I found many students flocking toward the football stadium to support their major’s team.
After I had breakfasted, I drank green tea. Then, I went directly to the stadium, passing through the line of cars that were parked along Padauk Road. Some footballers were warming up in the stadium just before the kick-off. I entered the stadium through the middle gate and walked up to the upper terraces of the grandstand. Some spectators took the seats on the left side of the grandstand and some on the right side, depending on the position of the teams they were to cheer. I took a vacant seat on the left. The university students and some in-charge teachers were eager to watch the soccer competition. Some fans were beating the drums. Some were applauding their team loudly, holding up posters which read’ Our team must win’. The whole stadium was agog and active with a competitive mood. Referees and assistant referees in uniform were sitting at a table near the sideline in the shade of two large umbrellas. Next to them, a Red Cross group was stationed in the shade of a large umbrella. The first lineups of the teams were having their documentary photos taken.
Soon, the footballers filed out onto the field. The shouts of the spectators became louder. The Chemistry Team took the right side, wearing yellow jerseys and green shorts, while the Sports Science Team, on the left side in black and white kits. When they were all ready, the main referee started the match with a loud whistling sound. The Sports Science Team started to pass the ball. After receiving the ball, one of their midfielders ran with the ball through the footballers of the opposite team and delivered it to a left winger, who dribbled it and then dashed it to the main striker. He caught the ball with his right foot and shot it into the left corner of the goal-posts with the slash of his left foot. The goalkeeper of the Chemistry Team managed to defend it by diving out into that corner. Thereupon, he placed the ball before him and passed it to the right defender, who ran with the ball along the edge of the field. The footballers of the Sports Science Team followed him and tried to block him. He dodged them and passed the ball to a midfielder of his team, who wove his way through the defenders of the opposite team and gave the ball to the main striker of his team with his left heel. The striker also jumped up a few feet from the ground and headed the ball away into the goalposts of the Sports Science Team. The ball hit the net, and the whole stadium echoed with the applause of the spectators. From then on, the Sports Science Team intensified its attacks on the Chemistry Team. So, all footballers, except the goalkeeper, went forward simultaneously in the total football style. So, their counterattacks sent the Chemistry Team into chaos. Suddenly, while the footballers were being locked in a wrestle for the ball near the goal area of the Chemistry Team, one of the defenders of the Chemistry Team intentionally gave a kick on the calf of the main striker of the Sports Science Team, making him fall on his face. So, the main referee ran to the offender and showed a yellow card to him. Thus, the Sports Science Team chanced to deliver a free-kick into the goal-posts of the Chemistry Team. The main striker and captain of the Sports Science Team, one of the top scorers, was to deliver the free-kick at a 25 metre-distance from the goal-post. With a great desire to equalize his team, he, having concentrated on the ball and put forth all his efforts, shot it. All the spectators held their breath, and their eyes followed the ball. At first, it seemed to pass just above the upper bar of the goal-posts, but when it neared the goal-posts, it suddenly diverted its course and dropped down and went into the right upper corner of the goal-posts. All of a sudden, the pin-drop silence which had reigned for a few seconds burst out into a roaring applause. The first half ended with 1-1.
After a break, they resumed the game. The footballers made more efforts in the second half. So, throw-ins and fouls were frequent. The yellow cards were often shown. The Sports Science Team earned a corner kick eight minutes after the start of the second half, while the Chemistry Team got a throw-in a few minutes afterwards. In 62 minutes, the Sports Science Team had a clear shooting opportunity, but the Chemistry Team’s goalkeeper made an excellent save.

No team got the upper hand. Despite several attempts, neither team managed to score during the second half. But the Chemistry Team players had greater stamina, and, therefore, although a defender was injured in the 66th minute, he was able to continue playing. The Sports Science created several chances but failed to convert them into goals. The Chemistry Team gradually gained the upper hand and even hit the post in 76 minutes. Substitutions were made by both teams, and more yellow cards were shown as the match grew more violent.
The competition felt like a tug-of-war because some professionals who stood for the Myanmar National League played their best to be able to win. Spectators applauded loudly, waved placards featuring their favourite players, and occasionally jeered at opposing players. Soon after a water break, an injured footballer from the Chemistry Team limped off the field in 80 minutes. Both teams continued to fight until the final whistle. Despite several free kicks and chances, the match ended in a 1-1 draw.
When the referee blew the final whistle, the players shook hands and left the field. The spectators slowly dispersed from the stadium, excitedly ruminating over the match they had just enjoyed.
In conclusion, the author thinks that, nowadays, football is more than just a game or a sort of sport which creates a sound body and mind. It also opens up a way for young people to make their livelihood. Moreover, it teaches them valuable lessons in cooperation, discipline, and resilience. Moreover, participation in sports helps young people avoid illegal drugs and develop a healthy lifestyle. In addition, the author notices that the football tournament is held at Dagon University twice a year, and some footballers produced by Dagon University become Myanmar-selected footballers who can bring laurels to the country. So, it can be said that the football matches held at Dagon University can contribute considerably to the enhancement of the standard of the sport in Myanmar.

gnlm

​I currently reside in a hostel in the bustling heart of Yangon. To be honest, city life has been a challenge to adapt to, and my daily routine often feels like a monotonous cycle between my workplace and the hostel. Living in a temporary space without the presence of close friends can make one feel deeply isolated in such a crowded city.
​In my view, having a true friend – someone who shares a similar mindset and understands one’s inner world – is essential for mental well-being. However, in a fast-paced environment where financial status often dictates social circles, finding genuine companionship is difficult. This sense of loneliness, coupled with the pressure of city living, often leaves me feeling stifled.
​Yet, it is this very struggle that fuels my ambition. Whenever I feel overwhelmed by the anxieties of urban life, my thoughts drift back to my parents and my village in the Nay Pyi Taw Union Territory. My village faces significant hardships, most notably a severe water shortage. It pains me to think of my fellow villagers struggling to find clean water, especially as the scorching summer months approach.
​I have realized that I cannot help them with my current circumstances, but I refuse to let that discourage me. This realization drives me to work harder every single day. I am dedicated to improving my English proficiency and advancing my professional career, knowing that personal success is the bridge to helping my community.
My ultimate dream is to become successful enough to return home and support my village in any way I can, especially in securing a reliable water supply. No matter how difficult my current life in the hostel may be, I will persevere. I am working not just for my own future, but with the hope of one day being a person who can provide a helping hand to the place and the people I love.

gnlm

Sometimes, while going about our daily journeys, we come across scenes that catch our attention. Among these scenes, there are things that make us feel gentle, thoughtful, emotional, or reflective in different ways. I myself am a person who travels and moves about almost every day, so I often encounter such scenes.
In particular, what I frequently see these days are young people in their late teens. When I see these young people, I first notice them, then think about them, and after that, the issue of “youth and rights” begins to occupy my mind.
Once, while I was passing through a market area, I saw two young men. One of them had dyed his hair. The other had his hair styled strangely, with part of it standing up thickly and heavily. In modern terms, it could be called “fashion.” Both of them were wearing T-shirts and jeans. I could not help smiling when I looked at them. The reason was that, as young people, they were making use of the rights that belong to youth.
As for me, I am only around thirty years old. However, because I am a civil servant, I cannot dress and behave as freely and casually as those teenagers. Because of my surroundings, my age, and my awareness, my lifestyle has become more like that of an adult. So, although I am still called a young person, I am no longer a “real” young person.
But are the young people I mentioned earlier real young people? Once, I read in a journal an article criticizing hair styling, hair length, and hair dyeing, saying that these things were blamed on only a small group of people. Young people think in a youthful way, and adults think in an adult way.
What I found was that younger people want to try many different hairstyles. I can accept this as their right. In modern times, fashion in hairstyles is constantly changing, and people naturally follow these trends.
If we think carefully, it can be said that in youth, one should take the rights that one has, but they should be taken with proper limits and self-control. Wearing flashy clothes, dressing in a striking way, piercing ears, and dyeing hair – young people tend to take as many freedoms as they can.
Look at the young girls. Some cut and part their hair in different styles. Some wear clothes so tight that they cling closely to the body. Some dress in strange and unusual ways. Some go out wearing necklaces and bracelets. These, too, may be considered forms of freedom and rights.
When I think about the rights of young people, my mind at first goes to such outward matters. Nowadays, young people also give much importance to external appearance and material things.
About six months ago, I happened to look again at some photographs taken of my friends and me at Yangon Institute of Technology. When I examined them carefully, our group of friends looked just like figures from old films. From this, it is clear that the rights of young people are not only about outward appearance.
The true rights of youth should be based on their youthful qualities, such as being young and tender, being energetic and quick, and being healthy and strong. They should be used to search for life paths and future goals.
For example, at the age of twenty, I could go around freely to find training courses and opportunities. At that time, after finishing school and entering university, I was very eager and curious to learn. I used to move quickly from one place to another, wondering which subject to study and how to study it.
Now, although I am not in my forties or fifties, I can no longer behave like those in their late teens. In everything, I have become more cautious and restrained. It is clear that I can no longer live as lightly and freely as a young person. In this way, some of the rights of youth are gradually lost.
What I want to say is that young people possess great potential and strength. If they use their rights not only for their appearance but also for their own lives and future, and if they express their talents and abilities through the rights of youth, they will surely gain success and achievement.
I would like to say that young people should fully express and make use of their rights during their youth, together with the other rights they possess. Only then can a young person truly be said to be using his or her rights in a complete way.
Once, I read an essay by U Aung Thin, which was written with reference to a book by Saya Maung Sein Win (Padigon). From that essay, I understood that Maung Sein Win, as a writer, had been able to use the rights of youth well. Indeed, it is true. Excitement, love, and sorrow are felt more deeply in youth. When such feelings are transformed into art by creative people, the result becomes powerful and deeply satisfying artistic works. This is a clear example of how a young person’s rights can be used positively in the field of art.
Let us think about other matters as well. The most important of all for young people is education. Although youth and their freedoms seem temporary, they are actually crucial for the future. If a student skips basic education or is absent from university classes, this leads to dropping out and failing to complete courses, and in the end, it becomes difficult to graduate successfully. This is a misuse of one’s rights. Instead of skipping school, attending classes regularly and using one’s youthful intelligence to study subjects seriously is the correct way to use the rights of youth.
Education alone is not enough; we should also consider other areas of life. If a young person thinks, “I am young, I can drink, smoke, fall in love freely, live as I like, fight whenever I want, sleep and eat as I wish, and spend all the money I earn,” and uses all his rights only in this way, then sooner or later he will lose all his rights. Not only that, but he will also lose the rights that young people truly deserve.
Later, when age advances, and a person becomes weaker, he will look back with regret at his younger self and at the younger people around him who are able to act freely, lightly, quickly, and energetically. As for me, although I am no longer a young person, whenever I meet young people, I feel encouraged by their strength and energy, and I gain motivation myself.
In this sense, I believe that I made good use of the valuable rights of youth when I was young. If there are people who wasted their youth by living carelessly, then their regret during adulthood and old age will be even stronger.
As I travel from place to place and observe different scenes in daily life, I feel happy when I see young people who truly and fully use their rights in a proper way. Such young people, I regard as “real youth,” and I respect and admire them. When I see young people who only use their rights for outward appearance and fashion, I feel that they are merely pretending to be young and that they are misusing the rights of youth.
I understand that today’s young people are often judged only by their appearance. However, when I see young people who, without being obsessed with physical beauty or passing trends, use all the rights of youth fully and positively, I feel even more admiration and encouragement for them.
Rights do not come twice. Likewise, youth does not come twice. Therefore, in the only youth that comes to us, we should fully and properly use the valuable and meaningful rights that belong to that stage of life. Only by doing so can life move forward, new opportunities be created, and one’s abilities be developed.
The right to beautify one’s appearance is something that will fade with age. But if we reflect deeply on this, young people who truly understand their rights and use them fully and correctly will surely appear. This is what I strongly believe and sincerely hope.

(Source: Translation of the article written by Hsuu Thit in The Yadanabon Newspaper on 6 February 2026)

gnlm

A year may seem long, but in reality, it is only thirty-six periods of ten days. At first, I never thought about it. But when I reflected on it, I was amazed by how swiftly time moves. Time keeps passing, and we can no longer afford to waste it lightly. If we meet once every ten days, we only meet thirty-six times a year. In this vast and magnificent journey of life, each meeting is quietly moving, step by step, towards separation as we count backwards. How precious every moment of life truly is.
Long-distance relationships have a way of teaching us arithmetic we never wished to learn. We begin counting days instead of memories, hours instead of embraces, phone calls instead of shared dinners. What once felt like an endless calendar suddenly becomes a narrow corridor of numbered chances. Thirty-six meetings a year. Thirty-six opportunities to look into the eyes of the person who feels like home.
When love lives in the same city, time feels generous. There is always tomorrow. There is always next week. There is always another evening to walk side by side without thinking about how many such evenings remain. But when distance stands between two people, time transforms into something sharper and more visible. Every ten days is like a single grain of golden sand in the hourglass of time. While waiting ten days to meet again, while planning ten days for a journey, while counting ten days from “I miss you” to “I finally get to see you”, time continues to slip away.
Time never stops. Like a silent river, it flows steadily forward, carrying people along with it, quietly leaving behind a destiny that never allows us to meet in time. Flights get delayed. Work becomes demanding. Unexpected obligations arise. Sometimes we miss a planned meeting and the arithmetic changes again. Thirty-six becomes thirty-five. Or thirty-four. Each lost meeting feels heavier than it should, because in a long-distance relationship, meetings are not ordinary events — they are the heartbeat of the relationship itself.
Yet every meaningful encounter leaves a beam of light in our lives, forming for us a sky filled with stars. The station platform where we wave goodbye becomes sacred ground. The small café where we talk for hours becomes a memory we revisit on lonely nights. The scent of their perfume on our jacket lingers longer than it should, as if even the air understands how rarely we are together.
Life is a cycle of meeting and parting. And because separation is inevitable, every meeting becomes even more precious. Those who love across distance understand the quiet miracle of ordinary moments. Sitting in silence next to each other. Sharing a simple meal. Walking without speaking. These become treasures because they are limited.
Distance tests patience, but it also refines love. It removes the superficial and exposes what truly matters. We learn to communicate more honestly, because misunderstandings cannot be solved with a quick hug. We learn to listen more carefully, because tone carries more meaning than touch. We learn to trust more deeply because we cannot watch over each other’s daily lives.
There are nights when longing feels heavier than hope. Nights when the phone screen becomes a fragile substitute for presence. Nights when the word “soon” feels both comforting and painfully vague. But there are also mornings when a simple message – “Good morning” – feels like a promise that love is still alive, still waiting, still enduring.
Do not wait for “later”. The best time is now. The longing we feel at this moment, the courage we have at this moment, the hands we can still reach out with at this moment – the present is the most valuable time of all.
In long-distance relationships, postponement becomes a dangerous habit. “We will travel together next year.” “We will celebrate properly when we finally live in the same city.” “We will take photos when life is less busy.” But what if life never becomes less busy? What if next year carries its own storms? The present moment is fragile. It does not wait politely for our convenience.
Let us meet while we still can. In these thirty-six encounters, let us create rich memories. Let us fill every meeting with warmth and meaning. Every sincere encounter is the gentlest way to resist life’s hardships – resisting forgetfulness, resisting loneliness, resisting distance, resisting longing, and resisting the regret of missing what should have been cherished.
When we finally stand face to face after days of waiting, the world seems to pause. The airport crowd fades into the background. The noise of traffic becomes distant. In that embrace, ten days of longing dissolve into a single breath. We realize that love is not measured by proximity, but by presence – by the depth of attention we offer when we are together.
And yet, even in the joy of reunion, there is a quiet awareness that the clock is already ticking again. Another countdown has begun. Another farewell waits somewhere in the near future. This awareness could make love anxious and fragile. Instead, it often makes love deliberate.
We speak more sincerely. We laugh more freely. We take more photos, not because we are obsessed with capturing moments, but because we understand how rare they are. We memorize the curve of their smile, the rhythm of their voice, the warmth of their hand in ours. We gather these details like treasures to carry back across the distance.
The beauty of life does not exist in some distant future, but in every “present moment” in which we are still able to meet. When the sunlight is bright, when longing still stirs in our heart, when it is not yet too late to say, “It’s been so long,” go and meet the one we miss, the one we long to see.
In a world that moves quickly and demands productivity, love can easily be postponed. But love is not an appointment to be rescheduled without consequence. It is a living connection that requires time, attention, and courage. Especially in long-distance relationships, effort is not optional – it is essential.
Thirty-six meetings a year may not seem like much. But within those thirty-six meetings lie countless conversations, shared dreams, whispered reassurances, and silent understandings. Within those thirty-six meetings lies the strength to endure another ten days apart. Within those thirty-six meetings lies the decision, repeated again and again, to stay.
Perhaps the true lesson of distance is not about sadness or sacrifice. Perhaps it is about clarity. When we know we cannot meet every day, we begin to understand the value of every single day we can. When we know time is limited, we stop treating it as infinite.
A year may seem long, but it is only thirty-six periods of ten days. Thirty-six chances to hold hands. Thirty-six chances to say, “I am here.” Thirty-six chances to choose each other again. And maybe that is enough – if we cherish them.

gnlm