Saturday 28 April 2012

The cost of being a revolutionary.

There are many people who would be classed as 'revolutionary' - some very ordinary, some who have done it on a huge scale. One of these people who has caught my attention in the last few years is
Aung San Suu Kyi.
Now this woman is truly an inspiring one. Even if you don't like her, you have to agree she is inspiring. She has sacrificed so much, so so much. She missed out on seeing much of her children's growing up. And has suffered with ill health and other problems i'm sure we don't know about.


Thinking about her raises questions for me though. How much is ok to sacrifice for a cause ? I don't presume to know her children, but can only summise that there would have been times when they would have given anything for their mum to be with them a little more. So is democracy in Myanmar (burma) more important than her children ? I don't have an answer or to be honest even an opinion as I'm too divided in my thinking on this one.


To me, bringing up my little girl is my first priority right now. And even if I was in full health, I wouldn't give that up for a political cause. I just wouldn't. But maybe that is due to the fact that I live in a country with democracy. Where she is safe, fed and has the right to a fair vote, education and freedom of speech. If she didn't, would I feel differently ?  Would sacrificing see her grow up, and providing that oh so important love and care to attempt to change an oppressive regime which she lives in, I don't know if I would.


But a woman like An yan su chi, no matter what the outcome of the elections will for certain be one who makes political history of some kind. She is a revolutionary in the true sense of the word.


I guess I am thinking lots at the moment about family and being a parent, and whenever someone is bought to my attention, I so often think about their family and what it has cost them. But the fact remains that without these people who have made such huge sacrifices personally and on behalf of their families, our country and world would be a very different place.


I can be so quick to criticise someone's choice, yet happy to benefit from the result of their actions. 


What do you think?

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