By Aung Kyaw Thant
Today’s society in Myanmar needs flourishing of sympathy, honesty and compassion among the people. Those holding up the sympathy are able to forget the misdeeds of others. Otherwise, the dissatisfactions would blast in the society, causing sufferings to the people. Such dissatisfactions may be the root causes of problems in society.
It is necessary to solve the minor problems based on public dissatisfactions which always happen in the society one after another. As society is formed with people from all walks of life, minds in different forms of the people will not coincide with each other. It is the basic need for the appearance of different opinions and attitudes. Some people can be tolerant of different opinions and attitudes due to a wider scope of knowledge but some cannot be tolerated because of lesser knowledge. As such, different outlooks trigger the blasts of dissatisfaction. That is why the authorized persons should not accept the accumulation of minor problems based on public dissatisfactions without exception.
Various countries across the world have been shaping the images of the best authorities which place emphasis on solving minor and major problems based on public dissatisfactions since yore. These countries created stories and histories for minor problems of dissatisfactions based on religious, political and social fields. Whatever it may be, minor problems of the people will come out one after another on a daily basis depending on the measures they took. If the authorized persons emphasize the solving of such problems, the country will be on the best way to the goal.
With regard to minor problems based on dissatisfactions of the people, an eastern Indian folk-tale with the title of “the Sissa and the Troublesome Trifles” mentioned Brahmin Sissa was ordered by the king to invent a way to fight against others without any death. Sissa promised the king to do so and left the royal palace. In fact, the king unavoidably ordered Brahmin Sissa to do the invention due to the calumny of other ministers despite paying respect to his brahmin minister.
Actually, Sissa could make an invention on the game of chess successfully. It was played on a chessboard. The king asked Sissa what reward he wanted for his great invention after playing it on the test. Sissa answered that he didn’t want any reward, but the king insisted.
According to the legend, the game of chess was invented by the Brahmin Sissa to amuse and teach his king. The wise man requested that the king place one grain of rice on the first square of the chessboard, two on the second, four on the third, and so on, doubling the amount of rice up to the 64th square. The king agreed on the spot, and as a result, he was the first person to learn the valuable—albeit humbling—lesson of exponential growth. Sissa’s request amounted to 18,446,744,073,709,551,615 grains of rice.
Such a number of grains proved the minor problems which became a large one when these were combined. Practically, the people from the society are trying to overcome such kinds of difficulties on a daily basis. Hence, they are keen to disclose their dissatisfactions to someone. If someone accepts to listen to the talks about dissatisfactions given by the people, it is sure that they would thank those persons even their problems are yet to be solved.
In this regard, wise man Sissa supplicated his king why he listened to the dissatisfactions of villagers. He wanted to note that these dissatisfactions meant minor problems. The king should solve the problems of the country without discrimination of minor and major problems. Not only the major problems can destroy the State but also the minor problems can spark terrible issues of major problems. However, the king can manage the issues how to solve the problems. For example, he can assign duties to the officers as authorized persons to solve minor problems by listening to the dissatisfactions from locals and disorders of issues at the grassroots level.
Everybody can take invaluable lessons from the story of Sissa that the people face many minor problems in society. Anybody should not set them aside as these are not important. In fact, when these unimportant things or problems are combined with one another, it becomes a gigantic problem that cannot be solved easily. Sometimes, the people may face the situation to give up the solving of these gigantic problems unavoidably. It is because those who are responsible for solving these gigantic problems are late to do their works. The delayed preparations to solve the problems are uneasy to have the accomplishment. If so, anybody including the authorized persons cannot enjoy good results from the efforts to solve the problems.
In fact, the minor problems based on public dissatisfactions are sparks to cause the fueling the anger of the people. The authorized persons need to solve the problems by seeking the main point of dissatisfaction. Primarily, the people need to have the action of authorized persons to solve their problems. In fact, solving the problems of the people is the duty of authorized persons. The authorized persons are assigned duties to do so. It is because the people are always seeking the best way and mean to submit their complaints to the authorized persons. The authorized persons who try hard to solve the problems of the people are the cleverest.
In the modern administration, it is necessary to establish the complaint centres with the invitation to the complaints on dissatisfactions from the people whenever they face minor problems on a daily basis. The smooth flow of filing the complaints to the centres should be prepared. Moreover, the authorized persons need to give promise that names of the complainants who send their complaints against those at any high levels if they face dissatisfactions for those highly qualified persons will not be mentioned to the public, and responsibility will be taken for them not to face action taken for the real complaints. In addition, the process of taking necessary measures against the persons who committed misdeeds but the punishment must be deserved ones for those offenders. If the complaints are based on misunderstanding the root causes, the authorized persons should make comprehensive clarifications what is the misunderstanding for the issues or what plans will be implemented for undertaking the issues related to the complaints.
Even comprehensive clarification on reasons why the complaints could not be solved may console the complainants for easing tension. If so, misdeeds and wrongdoings may decline in society. As such, the authorized persons need to take care of their acts. They have to solve the minor problems with sympathy over the people. So also, they should make clarifications for the people why they failed to accomplish the solving the problems, why they could not solve these problems with showing the reasons, why they delayed the process of solving the problems and how they faced the difficulties in solving the problems. Actually, the clarification of the authorized persons for the people shows mutual respect which can win the trust of the people.
All in all, solving the problems of people is the daily duty of all the global countries. By taking lessons from Sissa’s story, the authorized persons of the country have to solve the minor and major problems as part of serving the interests of the people. Likewise, the people should submit their problems to the authorized persons in a respectful way. If both sides hold up the mutual respect, the country they reside in will be peaceful and prosperous forever.