Garbage Segregation & Political Representation

Most of us know how we should manage our household garbage.

But when it comes to put them in to action, all what we do is to put everything in a one big plastic bag and throw it out of the car window in a secluded stretch of a road.

Later we bark at authorities for failing to clean up the mess.

Why can't we segregate plastic, tins, bottles, and cardboards, biodegradable stuffs etc at home itself?

It will take extra few minutes of our time in segregation but the benefits are far better at the end.

Better disposal of garbage will ultimately bring immense social benefits.

Plastics, tins, bottles etc have reusable value and by giving them to scavengers making house call from time to time can generate a small income too.

Same goes with; when it comes to selecting people to represent us.

Social media today is awash with so many suggestions.

Many are to bar anyone from entering politics and seeking representation; unless one has a minimum level of educational qualification.

Some suggest a university degree and some say O/L.

Having a degree of some sort and or O/L alone is not a good yardstick to measure someone's capability.

Looking back, seven decades of representation history in the country will not give us any clue to pin our hopes on.

Those who were with very flamboyant foreign and locally obtained educational qualifications had done equal or more harm with those who have had bare minimum level of exposure to quality education.

If the level of exposure to qualification is not a reliable yardstick, then what should be alternative measure?

Past behaviour is a very good indicator of what to come in future.

Ask hard questions.

How did that person come to this social standing?

What were his / her past contributions to the society in general?

Never be afraid of thinking aloud.

Social Media today is a very powerful tool.

Therefore; the responsibility of who should be sent and who should not be sent is only with us.

There is no point crying foul later after selecting an Ass to represent us in the first place.

Make the right choice now.

 

Happy Father's Day !

A text message received from my daughter on a recent Father's Day celebrations made me rethink of my father.

How do I start describing him was the main dilemma.

He was a man of a few words. 

I have more of his physical appearance than my other siblings but this quality of few words, I was not endowed with.

My younger brother has received it from him (the universe has very mysterious ways of working and assembling things around).

He showed us the world literally by taking us to various places during school holidays and breaks in between but his world was just confined to within our shores only.

By introducing and encouraging us to read early in our life, he managed to take us far beyond his physically confined shores.

Every week he used to bring at least two books from the Library and we were on them like the vultures on a carcass.

He wanted us to think freely and never to be afraid of asking questions.

Though he was a man of few words, where his political allegiance was no secret with Das Capital prominently in the Bookshelf.

With a rear show of emotions, he clenched his fist and held up in solidarity with his unseen brothers in some part of the world, when the Nine o’clock SLBC News announced the departure of the last US helicopter from Vietnam.

We were having dinner in Badulla that day.

His message though conveyed in a very subtle way but not in words was “Never come home if gets beaten up by someone else and the rest of the complications if any, I can take care".

In simple words, it says " Beat the hell out of anyone who tries to intimidate you ! ".

He was a southerner and his words and deeds have truly reflected the enterprising southerners’ spirit always.

His two messages “Think Freely” & “Never come home if gets beaten up by someone else” came in really handy in our later lives but I do not think that none of us got around telling him that how much we were benefitted from those two messages.

At least now we have such celebrations like “Father's Day”, which we have never heard of when we were growing up, gives me an opportunity to at least say “Thank You තාත්තේ ! "

(This was published a few years ago on another site and I thought of reposting after I got a greeting from an unexpected corner in the world a little while ago - Thanks Leo). 🙋

Newfound Patriotism - තමාට පෙර රට !

When we moved to our newly built house a few years back, we got a plaque with the සීවලී මහා රහතුන්ගේ picture as one of the housewarming gifts from someone.

So we decided to hang it on the outside Wall and not inside.

Seeing it there, a few neighbors and some of our friends were surprised.

We were new to the area so the neighbors were somewhat reluctant to come directly and express their opinion on this සීවලී මහා රහතුන්ගේ plague being hung outside the house than inside.

The friends were more vociferous than them.

“ Hey, it should be hung inside the house and not outside “.

The belief was that it will bring blessing and prosperity to the dwelling.

The neighbours have thought that we were අන්‍ය ආගම්කාරයෝ and unknowingly have hung it on the outside wall.

Our rationale was that we already have enough for us to sustain decently and we want that Blessing and Prosperity for everyone alike to get as well.

I thought of writing this only after seeing that there is something brewing in some corner of the Social Media that every household should display a plaque or sticker " තමාට පෙර රට ".

I can understand like ours, their intention is very honorable too.

At the same time I could not help thinking, soon our house too would also look බස් එකක් වගේ.

Imagine with a සීවලී මහා රහතුන්ගේ picture plus so many proclamations to show off our newfound patriotism adorning our house’s front wall.

Should I change our house number too to route 138 to give the real feeling?

Terrorism and Rule of Engagement

Ever since man decided that the only way to achieve a solution to a dispute between two of them is to take up arms, the rules of engagement have changed.

They have evolved in a much slower pace that one would be able to keep abreast with it and be prepared for any eventuality.

However, the 9/11 incident has changed the whole scenario.

What are going on around in many parts of the world today are sufficient ample examples of the changes that have taken place in the rules of engagement.

The conventional wisdom and the old school rules of engagement become lead weights, especially when a country where democracy prevails tries to fight off a terrorist outfit, threatening the stability of the country as well as in the region.

The terrorists have only one objective and that is to terrorize and they would go to any extent to achieve their objective.

Unless the democratically elected governments change their tactics and approach to the issue of how to deal with the terrorists, the hope of having a Win is a total impossibility.

The best and the most recent example is the Sri Lankan Armed forces victory over the one time most dreaded and feared terrorist group.

Had they been listening to the hypocrites’ and old school pundits, as they have done for more than two decade, the terrorist menace would have gone for many more decades.

They were ready to change their rules of engagement and the success came within a few years.

The conventional wisdom and old school rules of engagement have to be abandoned, if to achieve success in a war especially between a democratically elected government and a foreign funded terrorist outfit.

The staunch old school guards and especially the hypocrites’ will try to place one obstacle after another to stop you from changing your stance but the sure recipe for success is to abandon the conventional wisdom and old rules of engagement.

(This was posted a long time ago in my old blog and reposting here after recent incidents in the West -  Old Blog Link )