It's amazing how backwards some countries can be with regards to infrastructure, politics and the government, education, health and just general living, yet they can be so far ahead in their treatment of animals.
I've started my first backpacking experience this year, albeit not alone but indeed without all the luxuries of travelling with parents. And my first destination without my parents was Myanmar (Burma), not the greatest idea, and definitely not the best country to start.
Myanmar, the longest running regime in the world, a country that has been through so much shit and endless turmoils, and yet somehow they still manage to show kindness to strangers. On so many occasions of the duration of my stay there, my sister and I were given free tours, or free drinks, or we'd buy something from a vendor and they would put something else in for free as a 'gift' as they'd say. It was just a country riddled with kindness. Every town we went to had a big board saying 'Warmly Welcome and Take Care of Tourists'. And this genuine kindness shown to us was extended as well to the animals.
In all the towns we went to there were cats and dogs everywhere, walking down the streets, lazing on the road. The thing with these dogs and cats, however, was that they were all well looked after. They all ate well, their fur was well groomed, they had no traces of disease and they were the most amiable animals, they'd wag their tail and come up for a pat. The cats especially were very friendly and would often come up and sit on my lap and fall asleep there quite happily. This was in the little towns mind you, this was definitely not the case in the big cities of Yangon and Mandalay. In these cities it was very much one man to their own, and this included animals. There were men and dogs lying on the street in dirt and disease, equally as unable to move as the other, just slowly perishing in the heat. There were dogs sprawled on the paths, disease overtaking them. That was a wake up call.
One thing that was particularly interesting about Myanmar was that people did not retire unless they were in the government. You worked until you died. We went on a hike through rice fields and farms in a small town called Hsipaw (pronounced see-paw) and our guide was a grandfather, literally. I could not guess his age but he was telling us all about his family and his grandchildren and he was explaining to us about the retirement issue and he said to us that he'll have to work until he dies. Later in the hike we came across a water buffalo and he told us that water buffalo are like friends to the Myanmar people. When they die they do not get eaten but rather buried in a respectable way. And because they do so much hard work throughout their life they get to retire. So even in a country that has a corrupt government, the animals can retire but the people can't.
Of course there's brutality in Myanmar as there is in any country but among it all they can still manage to find some form of kindness and gentleness to animals which I find is a quality severely lacking in western countries. We have become desensitised to these sorts of issues because now we are focused on consumerism and making sure that we meet the consumers demands no matter what it involves. And that is what is wrong with the world. We have lost the ability to be kind and instead we focus on making more money.
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