The world outpouring of grief and solidarity

The outpouring of grief and solidarity with Sri Lanka over the Easter tragedy

Sri Lankans like every other small island nation people are a happy go lucky people, want to live and let live, with a Buddhist way of a life of tranquillity and inner sereneness.  We have been blessed with beautiful golden sandy beaches,with fauna, flora and an idyllic sunny climate all year round. This is the envy of the many who visit our shores in their thousands, in search of an escape from troubled waters and times.

But over the recent many years, our paradise isle has been the scene of civil war, the tsunami,the drought, the flood of drugs and imported debt mountain and a wanton destruction of everything we have aspired.

Having had the resilience to overcome most of our man made difficulties with the wisdom of following in the footsteps of the Middle Path of The Triple Gem and with the courage to lead our way out of trouble, we have now stumbled into becoming embroiled in international terrorism, due to our genuine innocence of understanding the machinations of international power rivalry.

New Zealand vs Sri Lanka?

What have the recent atrocities in New Zealand committed against humanity got to do with what happened days ago on Easter Sunday in Sri Lanka?  

Not long ago,I was in a discourse with a friend of mine about my childhood in Sri Lanka. He said, " you never had it so bad when you were growing up in Colombo,did you?" "You see", he said, " was it not peaceful". So what has really happened to make this sea change over the last fifty odd years, I contemplated.

I can remember my mother buying China silk from the Chinese merchant peddling down our lane on his bicycle on a sultry afternoon. 

I can remember the Indian Shastri wanting to read my palm,to see if I would ever get rich?

I can remember the Seer fish monger and the "elo wollo" ammah selling their produce to my Mum, with accounts scribbled on a Note Book.

What has changed?

Have we,as Sri Lankans changed,or has the world changed? "We might live in an age of moral outrage, but plenty of research shows that calling someone a terrorist, someone racist,homophobic, sexist or any other label does nothing to change people's beliefs. This is because naming,shaming,or blaming people will automatically put them on the defensive".

It is extremely difficult to change the world or even our workplace.This is because bias is a human condition. Stereotyping and unequal treatment persist, because when bias motivates an unlawful act,it is considered a hate crime. Hate today around the world wears many faces,not only under burquas and hjabs. Hate is an open attack on tolerance and acceptance of people as human.

How much has changed and how much as remained the same?

Experience shows that no country in the world is an "island", able to create opportunities for its population entirely within its own geographical boundaries. To succeed in this open environment Sri Lanka will need to improve its skills base,better understand the supply and demand chains as well as produce higher quality goods and services. 

We have remained the same as an agricultural export nation. We have remained the same depending on our tourist trade to bring in the revenue. We have exploited our scenic beauty and at the same time invited trouble. Yet as someone who visited Sigiriya recently stated, there are no proper tourist toilets available as yet.

How can a relapse into violent conflict be prevented in our land, if we tell the whole world that our Police were privy to intelligence given to us in advance of the Easter massacre,while our Security Services were kept in the dark. Was there a conspiracy hatched by interested parties for self gain?

Besides, winning the peace remains a much greater challenge.Many of the underlying issues remain unresolved,making our Opposition Leader,Mahinda Rajapaksa, reported to have stated, that if he is returned to power, he will release all the Tamils detained without trial, languishing in prison for nearly ten years at great expense to their families and to the economy.

We run to the international community for help in conflict resolution, but we all know in our hearts that it is not the international community or society involved in conflict prevention. We as a nation must stop the infiltration of international hate crime in our island.

Sri Lanka we say, has experienced improvements in political rights and civil liberties since 2015. However, the Government is divided and slow to implement "transitional justice" mechanism needed to address the ongoing issues.

What must we do now?

We speak of encounters in our churches, in our hotels, in our streets. No matter the location, or relationship, the stories echo each other. After eight incidents leaving the nation in a state of shock as well as an outpouring of grief and solidarity worldwide, we need to act immediately to restore confidence in our people for their safety and security.

We need to criticise ideas, not individuals or their religions. We need to commit to learning, not debating in Parliament. We need to share information,to maintain focus and flow.  We need to be inclusive rather than exclusive.

Victor Cherubim

  

  

      

The Generation Game

The most profound change that any society goes through is the demographic transition. Anthropologists maintain it is the route to modernity.  In pre-modern societies, there were high birth rates and high mortality rates.  Any surges in population were usually reversed by epidemics and famine, since such a society lacked the means to feed the extra mouths. 

Since Thomas Malthus in late 18 century there have been improvements in food supply,living conditions,hygiene and medicine,which mean more children survive.There were other changes such as contraception,birth rates start to fall. Population readjusted and realised a form of equilibrium. They stopped "dying like flies and also stopped breeding like rabbits".

In recent years we notice there is a bouncer back in life expectancy forecasts. But austerity and fraying social care have put a damper on the quality of life and a dependency culture. But quality diet, exercise,meditation are some ways to overcome the ageing process.                 
                                                

How old can we get?

There are different ways in which a society can age.It can be that life expectancy rises. It can also happen as a big generation such as "baby boomers" occur. 

Various factors are thought to contribute to ageing. First,there is the environment. No one can "live in a bubble". So our DNA and other molecular machinery can become slowly damaged or deteriorate by harmful chemicals or radiation. Our cells do have tool kits to help fix the damage. But, eventually the devastation could become too widespread leading to mutations that cause cells to turn to tumours. 

We could also develop problems with our metabolism. As our cells produce a host of waste products as they burn the energy and as the waste collects over time,it might disrupt crucial biological process.

Finally, the body encounters problems regenerating organs and eventually cells begin to malfunction.With wear and tear we are more vulnerable to various diseases.

Thus ageing is an unstoppable force, but there are breaks to slow its process.

We see this in the bow head whale which can live for longer than two centuries,making it the oldest mammal. We are also told that corals can survive for more than 4000 years.

How to pay for old age?

We see today older people are pushing up public spending on health care and on social services and pensions. That means taxes have to go up. We see capital taxes rather than income taxes are going to meet the shortfall. 

Which taxes need to go up to pay for an ageing population? Governments sooner rather than later need to balance the books by not increasing the tax burden on the working population.                        

Old people are a resource

The elderly and the old are not just a cost,though they are also a resource. Parents,grandparents give up time and money to their children and grandchildren on an unprecedented scale, especially with the cost of education and the debt burden incurred by children through University education. 

Family changes are taking place today, with more children living or sharing their living with parents. Family changes shape the vertical linking of generations. 

Parents are also having to fund the deposit advances on Shared Living homes and even pay the mortgages for children. 

Working and social lives are increasingly segregated by age. The family usually becomes more important as the form of inter group generational contact, exchange and where they can afford it,of handing down of resources. 

Trends for the future 

Advancing social equality in the current political,social and economic climate has never been more important. Access and success in higher education,socio-economic diversity,inclusion and income inequality are all upon us.

Heirlooms are fast becoming a thing of the past. The reason being nobody wants their parents stuff any longer. Objects of art, of beauty, scraps of nostalgia for parents such as Nottingham lace,silver candlesticks from the old country, oriental rugs, and other heirlooms are no longer memorabilia for the young. 

There are underlying reasons which span the gamut of changes taking place in today's society. There are social,economic and cultural reasons, but they all boil down to the simple fact that nobody wants their parents and grandparents stuff any longer. 

Evolving tastes and challenging property markets mean that past generations' possessions don't fit into homes of the next generation, aesthetically or physically.

The world of airs and graces has passed

Besides, the world of airs and graces has faded along with their owners. Some say Britain is in the grip of a de-cluttering fad led by the Japanese tidying expert, Marie Kondo, sometimes referred as "Kondo Marie". 

Material culture has changed. Now people live alone first, then cohabit before marrying if at all. Competitive consumption,like keeping up with the "Joneses" matters. 

A new culture of affluence has taken over. Markets are fast becoming travel oriented, experiences and hopes centre on well being rather than on possessions.

Objects left by their parents have become the focus of anxiety . They remain and stay as things and physical reminders of loss at that. 

Victor Cherubim