There’s too much awful in the world. From natural disasters ranging from a series of hurricanes and earthquakes, wildfires and droughts, it’s too much. And the humankind devastation of the natural world and social injustices run amuck are all too much. There’s just so much wrong and such a depressingly oppressive sense of doom and gloom.
One of the reasons I keep running marathons is that I find it an inherently uplifting, positive experience. I’ve said this countless times before on this blog but it’s an incredibly moving individual experience done in the most supportive communal atmosphere imaginable. In some ways, you could say I run for selfish reasons – that individual uptick/uplift/upness that comes from finishing.
And so I find myself in a moral quandary. Though it’s an ongoing, been going on for too long, and honestly even if it only happened for a day it would be going on for too long, the horrors of ethnic cleansing in Myanmar has recently cut through the barrage of bad news to reach the forefront of my awareness. Part of the reason it caught my eye is that I’m scheduled to go to Burma in November. For a marathon, of course.
The Bagan Temple Marathon is one of several events put on by one of my favorite tour operators, Albatros Adventures. I love these folks because they treat runners so very well and just as importantly they treat the locals with dignity, respect, and empowerment. A few years back I ran with them in Petra and the company sent multiple convoys of supplies, medical and humanitarian, to the bursting at the seams Syrian refugee camps on the Jordanian border. On top of that, they donated most if not all profits from the event to refugee causes.
I sent an email to Albatros about the current state of affairs in Myanmar and they wrote back to me with a thoughtful reply:
Dear Kevin,
As for the situation in Myanmar we are of course following it. While the situation is obviously serious for the Rohingya muslims, it is not a conflict that – in its current state – will affect the Bagan Temple Marathon.
The conflict is very local and is not possessing any safety threats for travelers in Myanmar staying away from the northern parts of the Rakhine state. Even in Ngapali Beach, in the southern part of Rakhine, reports are that tourists are safe.
The conflict between Rohingya muslims and Buddhists is not a new phenomenon, but have been going on for years. Myanmar is a country made up of various ethnical groups and unfortunately tension between some of these groups cause riots every now and then – the Shan and Kachin states are other examples of places where ethnical disorder have caused riots in the past.
We are aware that Myanmar receives a lot of pressure from the international community because of the situation with the Rohingya muslims and we trust that the increased media focus will force the government to re-think their strategy in these ethnical questions. Meanwhile we do not believe that sanctions on other, peaceful, states are beneficial for the local population, and thus we carry on with the Bagan Temple Marathon as planned.
As usual we keep following the travel warnings from various ministries of foreign affairs around the world.
Best regards,
Gitte Petersen
International Sales and Event Coordinator
It’s a tough thing. Everything is paid for — my flights, the tours, the hotels, the race. So the money is already spent and already churning through the Myanmar economy. But I do find myself wondering about being complicit in horrific crimes against fellow humans. I find myself wrestling with notions of selfishness versus impact on others. There’s a knot in my stomach that twists and turns and tightens and makes me question my privilege and advantages in this world.
There’s too much awful in the world. Am I making it more awful or by going could I maybe be a force for good, supporting worthy causes and individuals as I go through the Burmese countryside?
I’ll wind up doing what I usually do when confronted with conflict and difficult situations. I’ll try and ignore it, to avoid it, to bury my head in the proverbial sand, and go for a run. But maybe this time I’ll try and do a little something more.
I’ve sent a reply to Albatros asking them if they’ve got recommendations for places/people to donate to for Burma in the hopes that I might be a force for good in running the Bagan Temple Marathon. I try and do right; I don’t always succeed but I try. And I’ll try a little harder on this one.