Social action feat breaks world record
Many people like to read, but few have the stamina to read aloud continually for 116 hours like Milwaukee native Michael Bootzin recently did, earning him a place in the Guinness Book of World Records.
From Friday, June 16, through Wednesday, June 21, at the Bayview store Future Green, Bootsin read a variety of things, including works about Burma’s political situation and a published interview with Aung San Suu Kyi, imprisoned Burmese political leader and recipient of the 1991 Nobel Peace Prize.
However, his goal wasn’t just the joy of accomplishment or enlightenment. Bootsin, a guitar and piano instructor and performer, was making a political statement and hoping to raise awareness of the political strife in Burma.
The Southeast Asian nation is “the only country to have a documented democratic election and the government wouldn’t hand over power,” he said.
“They put them all in prison,” he said, referring to members of the National League for Democracy, the party that won Burma’s 1990 election but was not allowed to take office.
Despite the oppressive situation, Bootzin said that the imprisoned Burmese leaders remain dedicated to non-violence. He believes this should be used as a model to foster peaceful resolutions to other world problems.
“We can make an example out of Burma by saying to other countries in strife, ‘if you act peacefully against your oppressors, the international community will help you,’” Bootzin said.
Bootsin’s feat was timed to coincide with more than 250 related events worldwide that aimed to draw attention to the problems in Burma, he said. He originally intended to put on a short storytelling performance, but then decided to make a bigger gesture.
“I thought, ‘What’s the Guinness Book of World Records record for storytelling?’ … They didn’t have that as a category, but [reading aloud] was the closest thing. So I started practicing.”
Body and mind
Guinness provided rules. At all times, he needed three witnesses: two timers and one health witness. He had to read published works, such as books or song lyrics. He was allowed a 30-second break between words.
He spoke into a headset microphone to minimize stress on his voice, and was surrounded by food and beverages for his convenience.
For every hour he read, he earned a five-minute break, which he was allowed to accumulate into longer respites. He downed caffeine pills every 15 hours and managed to sleep an hour and 50 minutes for each 24-hour period of reading, although he said that he did the first 32 hours straight through.
At one point, when his young guitar and piano students came to visit, Bootsin read child-friendly literature, such as books by Dr. Seuss and Shel Silverstein.
“Physically it was not that difficult,” Bootsin said afterward. The only problem was dealing with defeatists who said that he would never make a difference in Burma.
Bootzin chose to ignore people who said he was crazy to care. “When you are in the situation of being oppressed and you hear that there are people outside your country working to bring you your freedom and liberty … it gives them the strength to endure,” he said.
Bootzin said that he is sure word of his efforts made its way to Burma. He was interviewed by BBC Burma and Radio Free Asia, both of which are “beamed straight into Burma.”
Standing against apathy
Bootzin said that he’s “always been drawn to help people,” and became interested in the plight of the Burmese people through the e-mail list of a group at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee.
When he received a message about a trip to Burma in 1999, he decided that it would be a chance to leave the United States for his first time while helping others.
He also “was part of an international delegation that went to Burma” for an educational summit in the fall of 2000. He then met Suu Kyi, who has been under house arrest for “11 of the past 16 years.”
Bootzin said that his motivation to help the people of Burma comes from his belief in living in the present. “I believe this is it, and that’s why life is so precious,” he said. “The idea of being connected to everyone is a motivation for me.”
Bootzin believes that this event took a stand against apathy and complacency, two symptoms that he said appear when people start to take freedom for granted. “If those symptoms go too far, we can lose our liberty and freedom,” he said.
Next year, Bootzin said that he intends to repeat the process. “If the Guinness Book of World Records says I’m the world record holder, we’ll still probably do it,” he said. “But I’ll have to beat 116 hours.”
Bootzin requested that if Guinness recognizes his record, they attribute it to Aung San Suu Kyi and the people of Burma.
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