Translator: sann tint Reviewer: Ellen Maloney
My name is Moe Thitsar. I'm studying at UDE as a first year student.
I'm here at TEDx today because I would to ask you all a question.
But as I am to ask a question, don't worry about that.
I'll answer this question myself at the end of my speech.
My question is,
"When we should contribute to our community ?
Before we talk about this question, I'd like to tell you
about myself a little.
Why does this little girl come up to the stage?
She is who is just 16, not even turned 17,
what has she done?
Is she different from other young people?
No, I'm not different from other youths at all.
The reason is,
like other young people, I watch Korean Dramas.
And I also like Japanese cartoons very much.
Then, what makes me different from the other young people?
What makes one think that I'm different from other youths?
It is my dream.
When it comes to dreams, how do the young people normally dream?
Their dreams are like, they want to be doctors.
They want to be engineers and teachers.
Some want to be scientists.
Actually, such things they want to be are very practical
for achieving status, money and wealth.
But, the goal I really want to achieve is -
it's not very practical, or maybe not at all practical -
but, for me, it is a dream with a lot of challenges.
That dream is ...
I want children in my country to be literate.
When it comes to talking about literacy, in the community where I have grown up,
and the rural areas where I have to go during my trips,
there are a lot of illiterate people
who have difficulty in writing even their names.
Some just can write their names.
There are a lot of people like them.
Meeting a lot of people like them
inspired me to achieve this goal.
For this reason, in June last year,
I started to founded a mobile library called Foggy Spring.
Foggy Spring here means the spring.
Some people don't like hot season as it is very hot here.
Some don't like rainy season as it is too wet.
As for cold season, people don't like it when it is really cold.
But the spring is everyone's favourite.
So, it is warm and peaceful.
With this sense of welcoming this kind of season and children,
I started this library.
Last year, we loaned some books from this library at two schools.
Then we distributed some cartoons and stories online.
And another thing is that I delivered some books
to the children in my neighborhood.
I'd like to share some experiences I have had
since running the library.
First , when I went to a school to set up a library,
what the headmistress did was
that she was finding the key to open the library.
And I thought, " Oh, the libraries are still locked."
After that, we unlocked the door and entered the library.
When I entered it, I found some books they have not been unpacked yet.
All were new!
When I saw the new books, I was like, "What kind of books are they?"
And when I opened them and looked at the publishing dates,
these books were published around 1990s.
So, those books were older than me.
The books about ten years older than me.
But the books haven't been unpacked yet.
And so I thought, "Why?"
"Does it mean the children don't like the books ? Am I doing something wrong?"
I reflected upon myself
when I encounter such experiences.
But a little later I came to realize
it didn't matter whether the children like the books or not.
This is how I knew when I went to a school to set up a library.
A child brought me a book.
And he said, "I wanted to borrow this book."
And I said, "If you want to borrow a book, you must write name
and Book ID on the book you want to borrow." And he said, " I can't write."
And I asked , "Which grade are you in?"
He said, "I am in the kindergarten."
I asked, "Can you read?" And he said, "No."
He can't write. He can't read. But he came to borrow a book.
And I asked, "Why do you want to borrow the book?"
He said that he wanted to look at the pictures in the books.
And I asked him again, "Do you like the books?"
He said yes and that there are many pictures in them.
After that, I continued to run the Foggy Spring.
It is because of that child.
It is because that child said he liked the books.
After that, to do something for literacy.
It can't be done by single action.
Then, I am participating as a founding member
in a community called WYNEE Community.
WYNEE means round, circle,
or "communal chat" in Burmese.
Now, our country which is suddenly open and where jobs opportunies come up,
WYNEE is for young people.
In their career-related fields,
they are likely to have competition.
And WYNEE prepares them for these competitions.
It answers the young people's questions.
It guides young people
what to be careful for their career related fields.
So, there is more and more competition.
I believe that giving guidelines to young people in such a time
is very useful for young people.
When I started doing these tasks, what my friends always told me was
"We are still young to help others."
Wait!
I totally disagree with the idea that we are still young to help others.
Because when it comes to helping others,
anyone, rich or poor can help others
anytime, anywhere.
Then, what do we need to help like this?
Well, what we really need is
that we need to have the attitude in our minds. that we must help others.
Then, why do we have to help others?
As we don't get help from others, why do we need to help others?
I myself stand on my own feet without anybody else's help.
Then, why do I need to help others?
The reason is, after careful consideration,
some children were born well
while other children were born poorly.
Then, how does this happen?
Some children go to schools and learn at the school age
while the other children have to work at the school age.
Why does this happen?
I myself was born well
and have had the chance to go to school,
which equally means that I have the chance to help others.
When I say like this, I would like to tell you all
with some little numbers.
I was actually born in 2000, In June, 2000 exactly.
Here I wasn't born yet.
So I will turn to 17 years old in coming 2017.
So, I'm 17 years old. 17 years old is still young.
Haven't you thought that 17 years old is a small number ?
And today too, everybody asks me: "Are you still 17 years old?"
Well then, let's think differently.
To count them back, how many day I have lived,
as there are 365 days in a year and so there are 6025 days that I have lived.
And then, up to 2017, there are five leap years so If we add five more days,
my age has come to even 6210 days.
When it was 17 at first,
it was just a small one.
But as for this number, It seems to be a big one.
Actually, if we continue counting the time I have lived, there will be a lot.
17 years is not just a small number.
So , as I have lived for such long time,
shouldn't we do things like these ? Shouldn't we do more than that?
To help others, that only those who have completed
or who are perfect in their life
or those who are very old should help others.
Because it is thought that it could not be effective
even if an ordinary do something.
There is one thing my friends told me.
"Okay, now we help others, and what could be done with our help?"
"What great things could we make?"
But if we think it over,
the tiny rain drops grow into an ocean.
All the people are like fine threads.
When they stand alone, they are just fine threads
but when they are interconnected, they will become a beautiful fabric.
One more thing is: to help others,
we don't have to spend all our time for them.
The first way to help others is
to share our knowledge with others.
When it comes to sharing knowledge,
we don't need to have degrees, diplomas or certificates.
Because even myself, I am on the TED stage,
but I haven't had any certificates yet.
Sharing your knowledge with others,
anyone can do it.
I believe that anybody from any background
or any age has something to share with others.
Another thing is that sharing like this, even myself,
I earned a lot of things I didn't know while I was sharing what I know.
For example, as I run the library,
I learned first how to bind the books, how to run the library,
and how to build the book shelves, etc.
Another thing is how to soothe the children when they cry.
So I started to learn and know things like these.
And one more thing is in my professional level,
I come to know graphic filters, teamwork, management or thing like these.
If I were in a ordinary life, I would never have learned any of them.
Because they are not my majoring subjects,
and not my professional business for my career either.
So, share ideas you have with others.
And another thing is ...
that everybody can have ideas
which could benefit their community.
Unfortunately, these ideas aren't put into practice
but stored in their heads.
Then, let's think of an example.
Everybody will get $86,400 a day.
But after that day, all the money will be gone.
Then, what would you do?
We will spend that money until it is used up.
We will spend all the money.
We would do something good for our community with that money.
Then, everybody has 864,400 seconds.
Some spend them effectively for their own community.
For some, they let them lose themselves, all the 86,400 seconds.
So, think about your ideas, imagination and plans in your head one more time.
What could you do with that plan?
What you do for your community with it?
What could we do for those who will be in that plan?
And finally , what changes could you make for the world you live in?
Think about it.
Then, put it into practice.
Now, it's time to answer the question that I have just asked.
When is the best time to contribute to your community?
The answer is now.
Thank you. (Applause )