"Those who cannot learn from history are doomed to repeat it.
Those who do not remember their past are condemned to repeat their mistakes.
Those who do not read history are doomed to repeat it.
Those who fail to learn from the mistakes of their predecessors are destined to repeat them." - George Santayana.
Wednesday, May 20, 2009
Victory and defeat - lets rebuild Sri Lanka
Author - Rover
"Victory breeds hatred
The defeated live in pain
Happily the peaceful live
Giving up victory and defeat"
- Dammapada
Buddha of course got it right, and this has exactly been my experience.
When I got the good news that the top LTTE terrorists in Sri Lankan had been defeated, the relief that ran through me was inexorable. I wanted to be in Sri Lanka, celebrating with my people, the resounding victory we had. But soon the realization hit me about the people who have made the real sacrifices for this war could never be as jubilant as the people who were mindlessly dancing on the streets, drunk. These more subdued people would be the widows, children and parents of fallen army folks, IDPs who lost pretty much everything and the SLDF folks that got badly injured.
Of course, then hooligans took the celebrations too far, as they did when we won the 1996 Cricket World Cup; the guys who danced on the streets drunk then never understood what cricket was about. One of my relatives was stopped by a group of hooligans and was asked why she was not flying the Sri Lankan flag on her vehicle. While they were gathering around her car, another guy ran and got a flag and put it up on the car, without her consent. She is patriotic (read - want Sri Lanka to do well in all aspects) to the core, but she is not the type that would show her emotions in public, there are people with a diversity of temperaments you know, and after this experience she was quite subdued, and contributed to further dampen my spirits as well. Anyway no harm done to our national interests, at least not yet.
But concerning the LTTE supporting hooligans, our victory, when outlandishly expressed, breeds even more hatred. Do we need to see the genesis of more and more hatred at this juncture? Isn't it the time for reconciliation and putting our nation back on track?
Out officials make blunders too. It was a pretty pathetic to see pictures of Prabhakaran in a thong. A singularly unattractive human being to begin with, it was quite a jarring sight to see him thonged! Whose bright idea was it to put it up on the MOD site? Do you think it would serve a progressive purpose? I don't; please explain to me if any of you think it does.
Furthermore, the defeated also live in pain and it is obvious from the numerous statements that they make. The Wold Tamil Forum in Canada for example, a proxy of the LTTE, has said that they "will bring Sri Lanka to its knees". These would be the folks that aided and abetted the destruction of Sri Lanka and drew schadenfreude from witnessing our distress. Even so lets not breed hatred by overly expressing ourselves, thus causing deeper pain in others, in our victory. Lets show some humility, its always for the best. Lets try to show these anti-Sri Lankan elements, by example that we are not like them.
Ah, and the peaceful, the moderate Sri Lankans (both Tamil and Sinhalese) are just happy of the realization that there is a great chance to rebuild Sri Lanka if our president plays his cards effectively. With the executive presidential powers he has, he can make a huge difference, and lets hope he does.However, lets not put all our problems for the president to address. There is much we can do as individuals; for starters, lets remember the people who sacrificed most towards the victory, and contribute however we can to make their lives brighter. This humanistic gesture would certainly help us to become better citizens and contribute more profoundly to the development of our nation.
"Victory breeds hatred
The defeated live in pain
Happily the peaceful live
Giving up victory and defeat"
- Dammapada
Buddha of course got it right, and this has exactly been my experience.
When I got the good news that the top LTTE terrorists in Sri Lankan had been defeated, the relief that ran through me was inexorable. I wanted to be in Sri Lanka, celebrating with my people, the resounding victory we had. But soon the realization hit me about the people who have made the real sacrifices for this war could never be as jubilant as the people who were mindlessly dancing on the streets, drunk. These more subdued people would be the widows, children and parents of fallen army folks, IDPs who lost pretty much everything and the SLDF folks that got badly injured.
Of course, then hooligans took the celebrations too far, as they did when we won the 1996 Cricket World Cup; the guys who danced on the streets drunk then never understood what cricket was about. One of my relatives was stopped by a group of hooligans and was asked why she was not flying the Sri Lankan flag on her vehicle. While they were gathering around her car, another guy ran and got a flag and put it up on the car, without her consent. She is patriotic (read - want Sri Lanka to do well in all aspects) to the core, but she is not the type that would show her emotions in public, there are people with a diversity of temperaments you know, and after this experience she was quite subdued, and contributed to further dampen my spirits as well. Anyway no harm done to our national interests, at least not yet.
But concerning the LTTE supporting hooligans, our victory, when outlandishly expressed, breeds even more hatred. Do we need to see the genesis of more and more hatred at this juncture? Isn't it the time for reconciliation and putting our nation back on track?
Out officials make blunders too. It was a pretty pathetic to see pictures of Prabhakaran in a thong. A singularly unattractive human being to begin with, it was quite a jarring sight to see him thonged! Whose bright idea was it to put it up on the MOD site? Do you think it would serve a progressive purpose? I don't; please explain to me if any of you think it does.
Furthermore, the defeated also live in pain and it is obvious from the numerous statements that they make. The Wold Tamil Forum in Canada for example, a proxy of the LTTE, has said that they "will bring Sri Lanka to its knees". These would be the folks that aided and abetted the destruction of Sri Lanka and drew schadenfreude from witnessing our distress. Even so lets not breed hatred by overly expressing ourselves, thus causing deeper pain in others, in our victory. Lets show some humility, its always for the best. Lets try to show these anti-Sri Lankan elements, by example that we are not like them.
Ah, and the peaceful, the moderate Sri Lankans (both Tamil and Sinhalese) are just happy of the realization that there is a great chance to rebuild Sri Lanka if our president plays his cards effectively. With the executive presidential powers he has, he can make a huge difference, and lets hope he does.However, lets not put all our problems for the president to address. There is much we can do as individuals; for starters, lets remember the people who sacrificed most towards the victory, and contribute however we can to make their lives brighter. This humanistic gesture would certainly help us to become better citizens and contribute more profoundly to the development of our nation.
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