coup (3/3)
This morning, February 1st 2021, I woke up groggy. I still haven’t been sleeping well, waking up tired and exhausted every morning instead of being fresh. And on this particular morning, I woke up ready for a working Monday ahead when I came across messages in group chats from my coworkers. Our boss had told us not to come to office, there were messages to stay safe, prayers and wishes, situation was bad, communications were going to be cutoff. I was groggy and now confused.
Then I started to come to my senses, and got caught up on the news. Our government leaders had been detained by the military. I checked my phone, no service. Luckily my Wi-Fi was still working but for how long? My confusion almost instantly turned into fear. I was scared. I didn’t know what the future looked like and what was going to happen to us, my family and everyone else in Myanmar. The sudden news were a shock and outrageous, how could they?! I then realized confusion had turned into fear and to cope with fear, it had turned into anger.
I was messaging my loved ones, girlfriend, friends, relative, coworkers and trying to get a grasp of things. A simple Monday had turned into a day I would never forget. 2020 had been a less than perfect year. At the start of 2021 the virus was still about and we were only starting to hope it would come to an end soon. As I had predicted, my Wi-Fi stopped working after awhile. I was in the dark, panicking. People were lining up at ATMs, panic buying, it was like the outbreak of the virus all over again.
As I write this, Wi-Fi’s back, my phone line is working and electricity’s still here too. Things seem calm but it doesn’t feel the same inside, my heart knows that there is unrest out there but we all have to be strong now. For our leader and for our country. We have to stick together, we have to stay calm and we can’t give in to chaos and despair. We’re connected now, we’re stronger, and we’ll get through this together. Be kind to each other. Please, spread love, not hate. Oppression has no place in this world, and neither does violence.
(I wrote this in 3 parts, so please read the previous ones if you haven’t yet!)
