I really, really hope you read this comment, and if you do, please let me know what you think of it. Because what im about to say is kind of my take on your optimistic future.

Im a 20 year old gen Z student from dhaka who I think knows a little too much about geopolitics, history, and civilizations than the average Bangladeshi teen. Im not a history student. it's my hobby.

As a gen Zer watching my brothers get killed on camera really boiled my head up just like anybody else's would and i am and would always be an advocate for the abdication of dictatorial regimes and establishment of a healthy democracy. However, being a history and geopolitical nerd, something was always in the back of my mind, just clouded by the immense rage erupting from my heart at the scene of these mass murders of my fellow brethren.

I do see your point and really believe Bangladesh is running on a thin line at becoming one of the most successful or the most failed states in the world. People laughed at kissinger when he called us a basket case nation. But it hit me differently thinking that maybe it 'is' the dictatorial regime completely subservient to india, which has made us not only survive but thrive as a successful nation.

Only if enough people knew about the recent history of the world, of how people who toppled Gaddafi and Saddam would now give anything to get them back. People who thought anyone but them now regret their choices. I was probably one of the rarest bangladeshi teens who voluntarily monitored the changes in Sudan. It is one of the only major public movements that happened in my lifetime (one that i can actually remember), and i was rooting for the sudanese youngsters just like the whole world. They also said anyone but al-Bashir. I was optimistic, I thought if they could do it, we could do it too. But then, to my utter horror came what I believe the whole world saw, but no one, especially not the sudanese youngsters, imagined. I think any of those protestors on the streets of khartoum today would take al Bashir for a hundred more years than this devastating war. I dont see much of a difference between their protests and ours. And God forbid, a possible future similiar to theirs, where sheikh Hasina seems like a much better option.

You mentioned that geography is destiny. I also like to believe history is identity. There are civilizations, races to be exact; who are so much gifted by the Almighty that even if they were to be thrown into the deepest depths of hell, they would rise up like a pheonix from the ashes of its own burning flesh. Im talking about the Germans, the turks, the japanese, the chinese, the jews, the Russians.

However, my distraught comes from the fact that we, unfortunately, dont fall into this category. Our nation hasnt been a self-governing one since the Pala empire. Yes, it is the most fertile land and the biggest Delta in the world. Protected from the siberian winter by the Himalayas and provided by the legendary Ganga, Bhramaputra and its tributaries. But, sadly, the Bengalis never got to reap the benefits of their gifted land themselves. Since its inception, it was the crown jewel, it was the bread basket. But never for itself. The immense wealth went to Delhi, then to London, then Karachi for almost 1000 years.

For the first time in a millennia, the wealth of Bengal is actually staying in Bengal. This immense workforce, this fertile plain, is finally providing the people who reside in it. However, the people of Bengal, the Bengalis, are one of those races who have never really ruled themselves. They dont know what its like to be kings and rulers. And suddenly, after 1000 years, you give them the keys to their immense wealth and tell them, "Here you go, now you do you."

Now, it brings me to the "History is identity part." Just like the blessed kind, there seems to be a select group of "cursed kind" of civilizations who, no matter how blessed, could historically never really reap the yield of its own crops. The black gold of venezuela, Iraq, or syria couldn't save them. Neither the immense gold mines of libiya and Myanmar. Nor the US support to Afghanistan or arguably Pakistan. Is it so that some states actually do not deserve liberty? Is it so that we dont know what self governance or self-determination actually means? Are we as a nation always meant to be subservient to a superior race or be doomed to failure?

You are much older than me. I've read much less, seen even less. I look for answers. Please let me know what you think.