Aung San Suu Kyi: One Indelible Impression

By Billie (Scott) Fouts, VP – Marketing and Development

September 25, 2012

Nothing much moves me.

Aung San Suu Kyi

And I was moved.

Boy, was I moved!

Her remarks were stunning in their simplicity. Much of her focus was on learning. “The classroom is part of, but not the whole, of education of life,” she said.

Become unified, she encouraged the audience. “Get rid of envy and jealous feelings so we can unite.”

Discussion. Debate. Negotiation. Compromise. That’s the way democracies address problems, she urged.

“Service is a beautiful word,” said the woman, herself so beautiful. “It’s something you acquire through experience and education.”

I speak no Burmese, and much of the question-and-answer session was sans translation. But I did not need to know the meaning – or even the context – of the words Aung San Suu Kyi uttered. Simply watching her facial expressions, listening to the tone of her voice . . . her laughter, her sense of humor, her humility, made up for my language deficiency.

It is no wonder that the audience treated her with the adulation reserved primarily for rock stars, with reverence set aside for the smallest handful of humankind specimens who walk this earth, and with intense respect shown only to people who have walked a path of intense challenge and adversity . . . and come out the other side a stronger person and one willing to make life better for others.

Aung San Suu Kyi is a woman remarkably comfortable in her own skin, who can motivate, educate and, yes . . . “move”. And if she at times used a loving, scolding tone of voice, much like a wise mother speaking to her wayward children, no one seemed to care in the least. In fact, they drank it in, as did I.

So grateful am I for having had this experience today!