Exploiting divisions for personal gain

(September 03, Colombo, Sri Lanka Guardian) No one is born into this world carrying any racial, religious, political, caste or class identity but accumulates these one by one due to outside influence. These are all conceptual creations of the mind purely for personal benefit and Sri Lanka has an abundance of these divisions.

By changing one’s name and the political party he supports merely for convenience, one can achieve a different status in society. Notices pertaining to change of names appear daily in many national newspapers. These are also found in abundance in a popular astrological newspaper — may be for astrological reasons.

It is needless to elaborate more on this issue as everyone knows that more than the differences set out above it is the name that catapults one into a higher social status or even politics.

In Sri Lanka, to say that one is a Sinhala Buddhist gives much recognition over those of other communities and religions and this comes in as a handy tool for shrewd politicians during times of election.

Exploitation of racial and religious differences in this country has brought nothing but death and destruction to its citizens. Victory in the war that the government is crowing about has brought only death and devastation to the sons of this soil irrespective of whether they are Tamils or Sinhalese.

But the undeniable truth is that the Tamil youth took up arms purely because of the attitude of politicians in denying the innocent aspirations of the Tamils. It is this that prompted the youth to take up arms to free themselves from the tyranny of the majority.

Sri Lanka proudly claims a recorded history of 2500 years and boasts of a civilisation based on the teachings of the Enlightened One. But the country and its citizens have miserably failed in putting into practice the noble teachings enunciated by this Universal Teacher. And the worst thing is that even those who claim to preach the teachings of this Noble One have resorted to placating themselves with worldly riches utterly disregarding his teachings.

Whether Mahinda Chinthana alone will liberate the people who need guidance of a much higher nature to achieve the ideal goal of living as useful citizens without harming anyone, only time will tell.

From Concerned Citizen

-Sri Lanka Guardian