A Relaxed And Generous People

This 1958 article, People of the Golden Land, from a recently rediscovered Atlantic supplement on Burma, strikes me as close to tragic given the current situation:

Burma’s geography is that of an abundant, warm, and well-watered land, where raising enough food for the population has never been difficult. Our religion is a form of Buddhism which tempers and moderates, and which, as it has evolved over the centuries, absorbing elements from several cultures, has come to provide a full range of activity for the many rather than a difficult mystic philosophy for the few. And the history of the Burmese has been that of a nation long victorious over all neighbors until a conquest by the British, which, after only some sixty years of colonial subjugation, was ended with apparent ease. These factors have made us relaxed and generous; neither fanatical nor preoccupied; proud, and in a great many ways unusually contented with ourselves.

I traveled through Burma with Max Kennedy (son of Bobby) and Thant Mynt-U, grandson of U-Thant, in the late 1980s, just before the revolution. Everything in this piece remained true about the varied peoples who live in Burma. I've never seen a more poignant contrast between the gentleness of a culture and the brutality of its evil rulers. And the spirit of Buddhism has remained with me ever since - and almost prompted a conversion at the time.