Wata Ravuma
One of my favorite news paper columns is the one called “Wata Ravuma,” published sometime back in the “Sunday Divaina” news paper.
I loved it for the singular reason that it was about simple yet heart-warming real-life stories of people helping each other and acting in selfless and inspiring ways.
Over the years, there were a few other columns in various news papers on similar themes. Unfortunately, this has not at all been enough. The occasional positive ripples created by these stories sadly get lost in the sea of negative stories and idle celebrity gossip that our media constantly bombards us with.
We need to see and hear more and more about the good side of our people. It will inspire others to “do good” in similar situations and will eventually contribute to the strengthening of the moral fiber of our society.
The same person who wrote “Wata Ravuma” is now an official “Mada” man in the present government; on top of it he is one of the raciest journalists I have ever seen. At that time he sold ‘Humanity’ (as it was marketable at that time) and now he is selling “Racism’ as it is marketable now.
Today people are only looking for ‘how many Sinhala people were dead” not ‘how many people are dead’.
In a nation where people worship WAR, you should never expect Humanity!
Humans are by nature very territorial- both geographically and ideologically – and are aggressive in defending and expanding it.
There has always been war. Yet humainty and compassion towards each other has always been alongsides it.
It is true that sometimes people tend to forget their humanity, and look at deaths from their side with sorrow and deaths from the other side with glee. But I like to believe that this is only a temporary lapse, and that these people in their innermost hearts are not really hateful.
I know from my personal experience that Sri Lankans, both Sinhalease and Tamils, are by their nature a compassionate people and have a highly developed sense of morality.
So yes, we can have hope…