Margaret Moth
Aung San Suu Kyi
Margaret Moth was a photojournalist for CNN. She was beautiful and strong. She always wore black eyeliner and was rumored to sleep in her black boots. She named herself "Moth" after the tiger moth airplane she loved to parachute out of. She covered the Bosnian war and the riots after Indira Ghandi was assassinated. Those were the days of super heavy cameras that had cables trailing behind. There was an instance when a fighter had a gun pointed right at her. She pointed her camera at him and walked forward. The guy carrying her cable was forced to go with her. She got the shot, and didn't get shot, not that time. While covering Sniper Alley in Sarajevo she was hit by a bullet in the face. She survived but had part of her jaw and tongue removed. She healed and went back 6 months later to finish filming the war with her speech slurred. Finally it wasn't a bullet that got her, but cancer. She is quoted saying "I wish I had gone out with a bit more flair, but I've lived to the fullest..."
Aung San Suu Kyi was leading a party to bring democracy to Myanmar (Burma). She was educated at Oxford and went back to Burma when her mother had a stroke. There were student riots all over and the military was shooting young people and killing massive amounts of people. The people came to her because her father had won independence for them years before until he was assassinated. She won the vote in the first democratic election in 1989 and the military rulers put her under house arrest and arrested all her friends and threw them in prison. She went on hunger strike until she was assured that they wouldn't be hurt. Suu was under house arrest for 15 years. She was inspired by peaceful protests of Martin Luther King and people would gather in the thousands to her her speak. They would gather outside the gates of her home and she would speak over the wall, until the army guards started shooting to chase people away. The military wouldn't let her children or husband visit and her husband eventually died of cancer after not having seen each other in over three years. Suu was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize and is still speaking and fighting. There were finally elections held in 2015 but the military wouldn't let her run. But, they elected a man from the same Democratic party win the presidency and she can "advise". Through everything the gov't put her through she has remained hopeful, stoic, elegant, and strong. I was in Singapore in 99 and we all talked of trying to go up there and hear her speak. I don't even think it would have been possible but I am glad to have heard of such an amazing woman when I was young. In America our role models are vapid pop stars and it isn't "cool" to care about politics. Seeing a woman fight for rights of others was very impactful.
Did having a mission give these women energy. Did knowing that they were fighting for something bigger than themselves give them stamina? Did having a purpose give them life? Their purposes were just thrust onto them, did they have a choice? I met a man who was with Maggie Moth in Sarajevo. He said she was wild and reckless and maybe had a death wish. She did things no one else would do. I said I used to dream of being a war journalist. He said the only people who do it, have no choice. You don't choose that life, and it ruins your life. You get PTSD and never see your family. There is an addictive urge to it and it's hard to break away.
My hands are still not back all the way. It's been 2 weeks since Rituxan. They are a little better but everything feels rough and sand papery. I pet my dogs face and his puppy ears aren't soft to me anymore. I put conditioner in my hair and it doesn't seem to work, my hair feels like straw. If I lightly stroke my fingers down my other hand, it's so sensitive it's painful. At least they don't feel 4 inches too thick anymore. And thankfully the rest of my body is back to normal. There are other strange things from all the chemicals in my body. My period hasn't started, it's a week late. My hair is dried out. Everything is just a little off. I'm not complaining, just explaining in case someone else does this. I"m off bread, sugar, dairy, and working up to 9 cups of veggies a day. Trying to flush the system with vitamins for healing, like the wahl's book says. I guess for right now, veggies are my purpose...