27/04/2026
ပြီးခဲ့တဲ့ ပို့စ်က မြန်မာလို အက်ဆေးရဲ့ မူရင်း The Global New Light of Myanmar မှ ရေးတဲ့ I Say What I See: Spare Life on the Streets? ကို ကူးယူ ဖော်ပြလိုက်ပါတယ်။
မင်္ဂလာကြီးပါ ခင်ဗျား။
Aungthu Ya
မဂၤလာၾကီး အဂၤလိပ္စာ အသိုင္းအ၀ိုင္း Mingalar Jii English Club
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I Say What I See: Spare Life on the Streets?
Every day, I watch some people cross the roads in Yangon with what seems like absolute confidence – or maybe indifference. They step onto the street as if vehicles don’t exist, eyes locked forward, never glancing at the cars rushing past. They don’t slow down, don’t hesitate. It’s as if the road belongs only to them.
But then, I see the drivers – equally absorbed, equally unconcerned. They press forward, barely noticing the scattered pedestrians ahead. Horns blare, engines roar, yet no one pauses to think: What if I were on the other side?
A friend of mine once put it simply: “People walking don’t think about the ones driving. And those behind the wheel don’t imagine being the ones walking. It’s like they all believe they have spare lives, ready to use if anything goes wrong.”
A spare life – what a curious idea. As if our bodies and our minds come with backup copies as if recklessness has no cost. Yet, I see the cost everywhere: the sudden screech of brakes, the helpless flailing of arms before impact, and the lifeless stillness that follows.
Myanmar’s roads are unforgiving, not just because of their narrow pavements or endless traffic but also because discipline is absent. We walk where we shouldn’t. We drive without caution. We gamble with life, assuming luck will always side with us.
I know because I’ve felt the weight of that moment myself. One evening, while driving with caution, I encountered a delivery boy on a bicycle speeding towards me from the wrong direction. His movement was reckless – wrong lane, no warning, no hesitation. We neared a bump, and in a split second, my instincts took over. I slammed the brakes hard enough to avoid impact. A few inches closer, and that encounter could have been disastrous.
But that wasn’t a skill. It wasn’t some supernatural reflex. It was just luck – and luck isn’t something we can depend on forever.
That moment reminded me that we don’t just control our own lives on the road – we also influence others’ lives. My decision to slam on the brakes saved the delivery boy, but what if I hadn’t seen him in time? What if his fate depended on another driver – one who was distracted, impatient, or careless?
Discipline is what we must rely on – not luck. A pedestrian must pause and think before stepping onto the street. A driver must respect the unpredictability of traffic and the responsibility that comes with being behind the wheel. Each person plays a role. Each action carries weight.
Discipline, especially in traffic for both drivers and pedestrians, is crucial. Every traffic situation demands consistent adherence to rules to maintain safety and order on the streets. Discipline is the foundation of rules and regulations. We should value discipline itself rather than enforcing it on others.
Maybe it’s time we stopped thinking we have a spare life waiting for us. Because in Myanmar’s chaotic traffic, we only ever get one.
