Aung Thin - My teacher

"I am a teacher," an article I wrote for the bimonthly Commerce magazine over two years ago, has been compiled and edited into a book.

While I was writing the articles, my health was failing and I could not sit down to write, so I recorded them on cassette. The tapes were edited by the Zun Pwint team and included in the publication. When I listened to the tapes and edited them, I inevitably found some mistakes in intonation, punctuation, and sentence structure. I also cleaned up those mistakes. While I was editing the book, my health was failing again. Even while I was still in this state, I couldn't control my desire to add more and more, so I kept adding more and more.

Just by seeing the name "I am a teacher", you can guess what you are about to read. However, I have focused on the fact that the most important and fundamental foundation in building a country and a nation is schools. Therefore, the basic materials of schools, "teachers and students", are truly the foundation. It does not take long to rebuild village and urban buildings that have been destroyed by natural disasters such as war and earthquake. If the materials are complete, even more beautiful urban and village buildings can be built within 2 or 3 years. If the foundation of education, which teachers and students participate in, is shaken, it will take decades to rebuild. History has repeatedly proven that

Therefore, I write these articles out of respect for my fellow teachers and out of love for my students, because I value education.

I would like to express my heartfelt gratitude to Commerce Magazine for featuring “I am a teacher” and to the members of the Zun Pwint team for their patience and support.

Aung Thin 20-5-2007

It is difficult to write down what I have said in literary lectures. There have been books that have been published (by publishers) that have copied my lectures from audio recordings. Similarly, it is difficult to write down what I have taught to young students in the classroom. It is also difficult to write down what I have said so many times that it has become familiar to me and I have lost the desire to write it down. While I was writing, I also remembered what Saya Zaw Gyi had told my friends about me. ‘Ko Aung Thin was talking about what he wanted to say in the village, so I had no desire to write. That is why I have been writing less.’

This week, I'm going to write about something I often tell my students in class. I ask them, "Who is better, humans or animals?" They all answer in unison, "Humans are better."

"When I ask, 'Is it better everywhere?' the whole class usually falls silent. They all start to cry. I continue."

"Are humans as strong as elephants?"

"Not good"

"Do you run as fast as a horse?"

"Not strong"

"Can you swim like a fish?"

"I can't get sick"

"Are you as brave as a leopard?"

"Not good"

"Are bees as cooperative as ants?"

"Not good"

"So, think about it, where are they superior to all the other animals?"

When I asked that question, everyone fell silent and each one of them spoke about their knowledge, wisdom, etc. It was not their fault. It was a very serious matter. I myself did not really know everything about it. I can say this because I remember reading an article when I was young. I can't even remember the author of that article, so I regret that I can't mention it. It was a translation article as far as I remember. It must have been a translation of an article written by a great scholar.

There are only three things that humans are superior to any other animal. They are:

(1) Reasoning and wisdom (2) Morality (3) The ability to appreciate and create beauty. In these three aspects, no animal can surpass humans.

Reasoning, wisdom, and understanding 

Animals also have a reasonable level of reasoning. This is evident from the fact that dogs can be trained. Moreover, even dogs that are raised indoors know where they should stay and where they should not go. Therefore, it can be said that they have reasoning.

Since the conversation has come up again, I will have to pick one up and write about it. It is about an elephant I heard about in the countryside of Pyinmana Township when I was young. It is not a wild elephant. It is a tame elephant. When it is released at night, it goes into the forest and mountains to look for bamboo shoots. It often comes to the fields where people are cultivating crops and eats. The farmer shouts and chases it away. In return, it does not attack people. But where can it wait all the time? It usually comes and eats when they are sleeping. Then they have to fight again with the elephant owner and the elephant leader. Then the elephant leader gave it a bell that rings loudly around its neck so that it cannot go quietly. When it goes, the farmer shouts and scares it away. The animal is in a lot of trouble.

However, after about a week or ten days, without hearing a single bell, he found the footprints of his reincarnation. So he complained to the elephant owner and the elephant leader. They were also confused. Then, the elephant leader, who knew about him, was suspicious and carefully examined the iron bell around his neck. He went to find traces of mud in the bell. The elephant saw that the mud was moving in the bell and then sprayed the mud from the bell with water with his trunk. However, since he could not see the bell below the neck, the mud remained. I do not remember how they managed it later. I still remember laughing very happily when I heard that the mud was stuck in the bell of the young elephant.

Such animal intelligence is called “animal wisdom” by experts. I have read and recorded many such incidents. However, I was afraid that the article would be too long, so I stopped writing. Even though I said no, I couldn’t help but write, so I wanted to write about animal intelligence. I still remember an article about a forest officer that I read in a magazine when I was young (about fifty years ago).

This article presents the importance of elephants in timber production. They cut down large teak trees in the mountainous forests. In the mountainous forests where there are no roads and no trees, they have to drag the logs that have been cut down to the large rivers with elephants. When it rains, the rivers flood and the logs float down the rivers. Then, they use elephants to help them float down the rivers. The logs that have been floating down the rivers are caught by elephants when they reach a port with good water flow downstream. From there, they are dragged by elephants, bullocks, etc. onto timber trucks, and then transported to the railway station. They send logs to the river to build rafts. I mean, "elephants are good swimmers." Before the rain (the river water rises), the logs placed on the sand must be carried away by the river water. Only elephants are used.

However, sometimes large logs get stuck together and become “stuck”. If they become “stuck”, they will not float in the water. If the rain stops and there is no stream, the large log pile cannot be broken down, so the stream will break down the log even when it is flowing. This is when the elephant’s ability and usefulness as a waterman becomes apparent.

The elephant leader, who was about to go down into the rushing stream and break the fence, shouted, “Don’t dare to ride it anymore.” The elephant knew that breaking the fence was very dangerous. Therefore, the elephant, who was standing in the rushing water, cautiously approached the tree trunk. He carefully examined the logs under the water with his trunk. Which log was the ‘key’? Which place was the ‘key’? He examined whether the log should be pulled down, pushed, pulled, or pressed. When he found it, he would hit it with his trunk, press it with his tusks, and so on. If there are signs that the embankment is about to collapse, it is more important to be careful. If large logs fall, the elephant can get stuck between the logs and be swept away by the current. Therefore, as soon as it is certain that the embankment is about to collapse, the elephant runs back to the bank. One of the embankments collapses.

Then one, then another. And so on. That elephant is called a “good elephant.” The height of an elephant is usually measured in feet, so the price is usually determined by the height of the elephant, so let’s say 1 foot is 100,000, but a good elephant is 150,000 per foot, and so on. The author of the article writes that the value is higher.

Looking at the presentation in that article, it is clear that the elephant's ability to reason is surprisingly sharp.

I just want to point out that animals also have a reasonable amount of reason. Morality, morality, is not found in animals. Especially wild animals have no morality at all. Not to mention wild animals. Even the elephant I mentioned earlier was stealing the fields, wasn't it?

If a big fish sees a small fish, it will eat it. If a tiger sees a deer, it will eat it. Does that deer still have children? That is none of its business. Compassion and mercy cannot arise in it. They do not have morality. We humans have compassion, mercy, and mercy for others. The reader may ask, are there not human beings who lack such feelings? There may be. I have heard philosophers say, “Man is a creature with an animal mind and a mind of reason.” With animal minds,