Little Things, and One Small Exchange

I took this photograph in Myanmar, at a vegetarian restaurant known all over Old Bagan. I cannot quite remember who told me about the place; I only remember the small thing that happened afterwards with the manager of the Ostello Bello hotel. The whole Myanmar trip came about because chị Hương of ECBC inspired me to go, and she was also the one who recommended Ostello Bello to me.

While I was eating at the vegetarian restaurant there was a man who looked very friendly and kind. There were only the two of us left in the place, and we fell into conversation. When it came to asking where I was staying, he smiled to himself as he listened to my very detailed feedback about the rooms — and then said that he was in fact the manager of Ostello Bello. On the strength of some highly constructive comments, he took me to the temples and the sunset spots of Old Bagan that only local people go to.

And those were the most beautiful hours of my whole trip.

A good seed will sprout, and will carry on.

I would like to share again a poem I posted a while ago — in Vietnamese it is Thái Bá Tân’s translation, and I have never once managed to read it without being moved.

LITTLE THINGS
Julia A. Fletcher Carney

Little drops of water
Little grains of sand
Make the mighty ocean
And the pleasant land

Thus the little minutes
Humble though they be
Make the mighty ages
Of eternity

Thus our little errors
Lead the soul away
From the path of virtue
Off in sin to stray

Little deeds of kindness
Little words of love
Make this Earth an Eden
Like the heaven above