MY STRONGEST DESIRE

By Khine Tharaphe Din
(Age 14, Myanmar)

There is no one all over the world who does not have a desire in his life. Even a baby has its own desire that is simply to suck its mother's nipple when it feels hungry. Different people have different desires. Some desires are simple. Some desires are very personal. It means that it is beneficial just only to them while some are very beneficial to the society.

Since I was young, I have had a very strong desire to fulfill my parents' needs. The people in my village pay full respect to my parents. Although they are not very rich, they were always ready to help those who need something. Some people approach my parents to ask for help such as money for their children's education at the time of the school enrollment. Majority of the people in my village are not rich enough to save their income for their children education. However, like my parents, they also want their children to become educated.

Therefore, my parents always urge me to become a teacher when I grow up as they want me to teach them. In my mind too, my strongest desire is to teach the young children in my village not only how to read and write but good manners also. Whenever I have a chance to come back to my village during my long holidays, the children in my village come to me and learn what I teach. I usually save my money and buy some story-books and some knowledgeable books for them as my presents. Sometimes, I tell them my experience in town under the thatch-roofed shelter built by my father. It is always filled with the happy voices of children. Some of them like to listen to my stories. Some of them want to listen to poems that I teach them. Some want to learn reading and writing.

In this way I spend most of my holidays by teaching my village children and the attachment among us gets greater and greater. In every society, I believe that the more the people are educated and polite, the more peaceful and developed it gets. Only good natured people can make the world peaceful so I encourage and nurture the good characters of my people. I have made up my mind to keep the most of my qualities better and better to teach my people to become the good villagers in our global village. I want them to be the peacekeepers of the world. Such kind of idea has been embedded in my mind by my foreseeing parents since I was young.

As I want to be not only a good daughter but also a good and dutiful citizen, I always try my best to polish up myself. To be a good teacher I need to be a good learner. Without being a good follower it is impossible to be a good leader. Only the good leader can lighten his followers to own the brighter future. No one wants to live in poverty. To keep away from the poverty we must study. Since I was young, my wise parents have been training me to own every good character of a respectable person. So my strongest desire is to brighten my people by developing their way of thinking and standard of living.