What to do?

The first bomb in a long time explodes in Colombo, confirming my worst fears. I don’t know if this is the start of Eelam IV or the end of that super-shaky peace that we had. I only know I’m feeling very uneasy now.

I wish I knew how this will turn out. Will the Army go on a government sanctioned anti-Tamil rampage as they did in Trinco earlier this month. Will the Sinhalese be incited by government led forces to target Tamil civilians, as they did in ‘83? Does anyone who’s not Tamil really care? I mean, really.

It doesn’t matter to most people who just continue their lives and that's the main issue here – Apathy. That is what ails this country most. Not racism, not monumental proportions of political ineptitude and certainly not the fact that we’re so close to the equator. Just Apathy.

My Oxford English dictionary defines Apathy as a “lack of interest or enthusiasm” and that’s Sri Lankans all over. We only ever get excited about politics and cricket and even then, we’re never actually shaken up enough to get out on the streets and demand a turnaround in policy or practice.

We’re so chilled out, we’re virtually horizontal.

I’m not saying we should take to the streets for yesterday’s bombing , I just want to see more active political participation, right across the board.

I don’t know about anyone else but I’m tired of hearing about people dying randomly, sick to death of soldiers being killed and maimed by claymore mines, fed up with children being conscripted into armies and more than anything else – I am nervous about the impact what this current state of ‘wedont’tknowwhattodo’ will have on the general population, on the business environment, on life as I know it. On life as I like it.

I have had absolutely enough of this bloody war and I wish it would end. Whatever that takes.

Don't get me wrong, I’m all for negotiated peace, even if the Tigers keep their guns for a part of that process. And I’m all for negotiating because I just want to live my life. I was born into this war. I didn’t ask for it. I don’t subscribe to the ideologies of either side. I don’t care. Apathy.

But this Apathy also means I still haven’t done anything to make a change happen. I’m happy to stand on my little soap box and rant to friends and family but I haven’t actually done anything about any of the issues I think need to be addressed. And I’m guessing I’m not the only one.

SO – my thing is this. Why don’t more young people get out there and protest….When some seemingly nice kid is killed by a coked-up creep. When some boy who’s Dad’s actually from the Boonies but is now a parliamentarian, decides to shoot up a club or start a bar brawl. When children are forced to fight a war they don’t initially care for. When people are killed randomly and girls are abducted in the nights, or raped – whether by civilians or the Army. We should be out there saying “no”. Demanding that the wrong doers be tried and that when they’re convicted, they’re not shunted off into a comfy little cell with a DVD player and a Nakamichi sound system.

Just do something… Imagine if you had hundreds of thousands of people, including the well-dressed urban cool, protesting outside the Araliya Mandhiraya. If all those people used their contacts and a) brought in others b) got something done – effected some changes. There is so much possibility.

When we'd vote – we’d vote for people who put in pace systems that worked and had no compunction about chucking out the stuff that didn’t. We’d vote for a far less corrupt civil and administrational society. How amazing would that be - it would force politicians and the international press to stand up and take notice. I’m sure it would.

We have the power dammit – we’re just not doing anything with it.


"to remain silent and indifferent is the greatest sin of all"
- Elie Wiesel