Whatever your little game is, don’t think the rest of us aren’t paying attention. I’ve run across a few articles about your little country from time to time; you’re not invisible. Just recently I’ve noticed that you’re occasionally being referred to in the media not as “Laos,” but just “Lao.”
Oh, there’s nothing about it yet on your Wikipedia page, although your official government links at the bottom insist on eschewing “Laos” for the abbvreviated version of your official name, “Lao People’s Democratic Republic.” That’s your prerogative, of course. And I suppose it’s only a short leap from “Lao PDR” to just “Lao.” But why? Everyone already knows you as Laos. You’re Laos! Lovable neighborhood Laos. Only now people are starting to whisper, “Don’t use the name Laos anymore. Didn’t you hear? It’s Lao these days!” Don’t try to tell me you’re not aware of the trouble you’re causing.
Look: you’ve already got a Lao people, a Lao ethnic group, a Lao language; people don’t even use the adjective “Laotian” anymore, it’s just “Lao.” Now you want to go all the way and just have everything be “Lao.” Sure, it’s simpler that way. But you know who also uses that system? The planet Vulcan. Seriously, it’s very Star Trek. People will talk, and I hope you’re prepared for that.
Lao was also the name of a mystic Asian character played by Tony Randall. Maybe you hadn’t heard about that movie. It’s not bad-- a George Pal film-- but probably not anything you’d want to be identified with either, as a nation.
It’s Myanmar, isn’t it? That’s what this is really all about. For years your next-door neighbor was taken for granted by all the other nations-- “Hey, Burma? How’s it going, Burma? Good ol’ Burma, steady as a rock, salt of the earth; don’t ever change, buddy.” And then all of a sudden, one day Burma shows up wearing only a lurid neon muumuu and Birkenstocks and demanding to be called “Myanmar” from here on in.
Sure, outwardly Myanmar seemed happier, and you wanted to support this new lifestyle choice. But you and I both know that, deep down, that hurt is still there. This new Myanmar’s just an attention whore. “Oh, you must all change your maps and globes at my very whim, for now I am Myanmar!” And yet the pain and the isolation remains. You can see it. None of Myanmar’s friends know where they stand anymore. “I was talking to Burma the other day-- sorry, I mean Myanmar,” they’ll say, hastily correcting themselves. Every mention of Myanmar in mixed company has to be followed up by an awkward clarification that we’re actually talking about Burma; yes, the same Burma that everyone already knows, but don’t use that name, it’s Myanmar now…
Don’t fall into that trap if you can avoid it, Laos. It’s okay if I still call you that, isn’t it? Seriously. I’m trying to withhold judgement here. Ultimately it’s your life; I’m not the boss of you. If you really want to be known as Lao, if it makes you happier and more fulfilled, then the rest of us will accept that and support it. Just know that you don’t have to throw everything away for the sake of a new identity. Don’t feel as though there are things you can’t talk about . We’ve had our differences-- political, economic, cultural-- but at heart you’re doing fine just the way you are.