Episode #172: Hope from the Heartland
In 2021, Jake Snyder was driving from Kansas to Missouri to meet his parents. With time to kill, he decided to tune into an episode from Insight Myanmar Podcast, and ended up listening to the interview with Thiri. “I just started listening to what Thiri was saying, and I got really caught up in it,” he recalls, addressing the host. “At one point, when you were asking her about what she had to do to stay safe, I remember her talking not only about what she had to do, but how that felt, and what the reality of that was like, and I got sucked in at that point. To me, it was really interesting to hear somebody be vulnerable and intimate like that, rather than just analyzing or talking about like, ‘This needs to be done and all that.’ I remember thinking at some point, ‘I should probably support that.’”
Although Jake has no connection to Myanmar, he’s always held an interest in Asia, and had been developing a meditation practice. This led him to closely follow developments stemming from the 2021 coup. But after the initial spurt of international coverage dropped off, he struggled to keep abreast with the latest developments, which prompted him to eventually find this podcast feed. And of all the Myanmar-related stories he would hear, Thiri’s voice hit him in a different way. Jake attributes this to the power of storytelling, and the vivid imagery that Thiri painted in her talk. “I grew up in a tiny little town in the Midwest, and I knew nothing of the world,” he says by way of explanation, adding that literature became his escape, and the words he found in books presented a discovery to a new world. “As a collective, it's easy… to stereotype and lump people into groups, but you can't fight against somebody's particular experience, because you can't deny them that truth.” In this way, the “emotional openness” that Thiri exhibited her talk became Jake’s window into the reality of Myanmar.
So Jake decided he needed to do more than just listen. He reflected on how he could make a real difference, and landed on giving recurring donations. He contacted Better Burma and informed them of his intention. And since it was important for Jake to know exactly where his funds were going and that they could really make a difference, he requested that his contribution be earmarked for her work.
Jake’s donations have continued, now for over two years. Thiri was so moved when she became aware of these recurring donations earmarked for her work that she reached out to Insight Myanmar to suggest the idea of a podcast episode of the two of them having a conversation. At a time when nearly all the news out of Myanmar is dark and depressing, Thiri hoped that this exchange could reveal a positive light, while also indicating how even one person can make a difference.
But interestingly, as much as Thiri’s 2021 interview resonated with Jake, Thiri, herself, doesn’t remember a word of what she said. As she later acknowledged during her second interview, the trauma she’s faced since the coup has largely erased much of her short term memory. “Whenever I am in a hopeless situation, I tend to make a voice, hoping that there will be somebody out there who will reach out to me, and bring the hope back to me. So that's the reason I decided to share my story.”
Jake’s generous response had more than validated Thiri’s guarded hope that if she put her voice out there, there might be someone willing to answer. “I feel heard,” she says simply. “This gives me hope and solidarity. This is what I've been asking for, that when I share my story, I don't want people to see us as some kind of helpless human beings. I don't want people to just end up being like, ‘Oh yeah, the situation is really bad and those poor people. Oh my God, we pray for you.’ That’s important, but that's not enough. I want an action. I was hoping for an action when I shared my story.”
For Thiri, the power of Jake’s response was about far more than the financial contributions— it also meant that he was willing to take on the burden of showing up for others in despair. “One person matters, Jake matters,” she says. “Each of us matters. I feel really grateful, even though I have never seen Jake. Whenever I pray, when I have mettā, I really wish Jake to be healthy, and to be happy and peaceful in his life. I wish that he doesn't suffer like we do.” And his support became all the more important given that the media seldom covers the story, even as things are getting worse in the country.
“A lot of us are feeling alone, and feeling like we're not being seen, or we're not being heard. Nobody really talks about us,” Thiri says sadly, noting that loneliness can also set in. “We want a little bit of support. It's not just it's not material… [we want] a people-to-people connection.” Because it is so hard to maintain a positive morale after years of violent conflict, and one’s resilience can start to dip, Thiri acknowledges how the impact of just one person reaching out, like Jake, can actually mean so much to those continue to resist the military regime. “We are feeling like we are alone, but you can be part of it,” she says, addressing the audience. “You can help us, and you can support us. Not to save us, but to help us.”
This was a lot for Jake to take in. “That’s pretty fucking powerful,” he says in reply. He adds that he had done a lot of meditating, chanting, and sending mettā following the coup, but it had somehow felt “nebulous and impotent at the same time.” At the end of the day, he realized he had to play a bigger role, and shares where that volition came from. “A lot of the good things that happen in life are just the product of showing up for something,” he notes referring to the 11 years that he has now been sober after reaching rock bottom as a heroin addict. “My own background in recovery, how do you stay off drugs? You do it one day at a time, you keep showing up every day.”
For Thiri, that has meant the world… and not just to her, but others in her community as well, she tells Jake. “I happen to share about you to other friends as well, ‘Hey, I have this friend. I have never seen him, but he's been supporting, he's been helping,’” Thiri relates. “When I share with other people, they know that they are not alone! And when I share your money, I tell them, ‘Hey, I got this money from a stranger, who is my fan. And so some of my friends have even heard of your name! And even though they don't know who you are, you are now known among us. That's what I want to say. We are familiar with your name. We're like, ‘Oh, we have that friend! Jake, somewhere in the US. I talked to my mom and my mom's like, ‘Oh, such a great human being! Can you give thanks to him?’”