Holy Trinity Church East Melbourne

Dear Friends,

In this morning’s Age (17/08/2022) there is the heartbreaking love story of Nilar Thien and Ko Jimmy a married couple whose love was forged and survived on the anvil of hate now perpetrated by the monsters who have stolen control over Myanmar. They met at a protest march and were so dedicated to each other that their love survived many incarcerations, beatings, trials and horror. Ko Jimmy used to write Nilar poetry and other love tributes that were smuggled between prisons where they often only gained a glimpse of one another. They collected books, they had a daughter called Sunshine and they had vowed that if things ever got really bad then each would resort to suicide. Ko Jimmy was arrested for the umpteenth time last month and was then executed by the military, they even stole his vow of suicide. There has been no funeral. Nilar Thien is in hiding with Sunshine.
This may sound like a sad and hopeless story and on one level I guess it is but it is also a wonderful story of human love, devotion and courage – more than that it is a story of hope as it finishes with this way:
Nilar Thien hopes, “Maybe one day, when it’s safe, she will return home to the books she and Ko Jimmy collected. Maybe one day she’ll walk through the door with Sunshine and hear him in the kitchen, singing.”
Rather transforms the complaints about wearing masks here ?

Stay safe
Grant

Our prayer for days ahead is for balance, consideration and listening