Is there nothing nice to report?
This country is spiraling into a vortex of depression. Feelings of gloom are exacerbated day after day by the media which does not seem to know the invaluable art of ‘Morale Lifting.’ Too many citizens are feeling disconsolate, uneasy and isolated at the moment. One wonders how the British got through World War Two with bombs raining down, constant air raids and daily blackouts. But they did - and with an enviable sense of patriotism and cheerfulness that had much to do with Churchill’s leadership and the cooperation of the media of that time.
Goolbai Gunasekara
Truly why would anyone want to read the daily newspapers, listen to the radio or watch the news on TV in Sri Lanka these days? It only increases despondency. The COVID pandemic remains rampant. Financial doings range from minor bribery to large scale corruption. Most politicians continue to do the same silly things day after day. Large scale crime can go from rape to murder with all kinds of personalities involved. Well known names are discussed with relish on a Monday and forgotten on a Tuesday.
How the Rule of Law operates in our country remains perplexing to most of us. By the time public cases are settled we have forgotten the charges and people involved. Since there is never going to be either punishment or responsibility why are we still bothering to report these things in the Press? Can we please instruct our reporters to stop dirt digging (most of it very trivial) and find instead some spirit lifting news to report on so that Sri Lankans can begin to feel some lightness of being and glimpse sunshine at the end of the murky tunnel we are in right now?
A suggested framework:
Reading newspapers which mainly highlight negativity can be mentally very undermining. Here is a suggested framework for a Daily newspaper which might improve our grim scene. Let’s make it mandatory for News headlines to raise the level of cheerfulness for the day and relegate the dark side of reporting to the last pages so that one’s early morning cup of tea does not taste like hemlock.
I suggest that the weekly, happy writings of columnists appear on Pages One and Two. Included in these front pages should be feature stories. Also add ‘Interviews of Interesting Citizens,’ ‘Weekly Social-Doing Columns,’ ‘Fashions (which provide a glamorous spin on the dull lockdowns)’ ‘ Recipes and Café News’, ‘Movie Star News’ and those delightful Crosswords, Sudoku and Spelling Games .
On Page Three could appear all the eventful, cheerful and newsworthy doings of ordinary people both here and elsewhere. Opinion columns giving OUR views would be welcome. That brilliant teenager who made a tuktuk for example, deserves a huge splash.
Let us proceed to Pages Four and Five and report world and local Sports. This will be hugely popular especially if spiced with photos of our achieving youngsters to gladden the hearts of cricket, swimming, athletic and other enthusiasts and will also encourage our youth no end..
Page Six can contain the actual doings of our Ministers. The good and the bad. We would prefer to read about their successes in any sphere and the good that is getting done in certain areas. The country would love to hear genuine success stories and I know there are quite a few.
So now we get to Page Seven.
At this point most of us will stop reading. Those who actually care about the heartrendingly inept doings in the political arena can read Page Seven. Of course I have no objection to blameworthy politicians being sprayed with a little public ridicule on Page Eight but that is optional.
Since we are in the midst of a pandemic ‘Morale Boosting’ is vital. For example why not praise the organizers of the COVID jabs who, in many cases, did a fine job? We have focused ad nauseam on their mistakes. Here is one little bouquet for them. My friend, Cherie, cannot walk with ease. She went to the Town Hall some days ago and was vaccinated while she waited in her car. She used no influence. She said everyone had a perfectly easy time of it. A happy little story, don’t you think? Surely more print-worthy than political gossip which is so convoluted we do not really follow it – or care.
We read too many gruesome tidbits that have no relevance for most of us. For instance, last week a woman poisoned her husband and then strangled him. The public does not know the woman and who really cares for such lunacy to be printed?
Education is taking a beating and yet many children are receiving online instruction wherever possible. Whatever schools children may attend, such successful systems surely deserve praise?
Compared to much of the world Sri Lanka is still paradise. Think about it. Are we rushing to airports desperate to leave fearing a vengeful Government? Are we leaving our homes because of forest fires burning for weeks? Are we wading through flood waters because heavy rains have inundated our houses and tent living is the only alternative? Are we frightened to say what we think? WhatsApp and FaceBook are not curbed. There may be some food shortages but we are not facing famine. Do we have any of the environmental problems that are now besetting the wealthy countries of the world? Do we have earthquakes like that which recently devastated Haiti in minutes? Sri Lanka was called the Resplendent Isle by the Brahamins of India with good reason. It still is as far as Nature goes. It is paradise and I would hate to live anywhere else.
Our problems are easily handled. We are a small country after all of only 22 million people. Why do we make life so problematic for ourselves? Only because we have leaders who are busy running each other down.
We still have a few well educated parliamentarians and many highly educated citizens who can surely bring about some kind of acceptable solution to our situation without talking, talking, talking and telling us that one Government Party could have done better than the other? Cooperation is the name of the game and in our small island this should be easy but it isn’t. We have no statesmanlike clarity from anyone. We have, instead, a lot of befuddled men and women lacking in foresight. It would seem that the present situation is an amalgamated product of a long line of confused men stretching back to our very first Government. And in spite of them Sri Lanka is still paradise. (In comparison of course.)
Let us be grateful for what we have in our island paradise and be thankful we do not face what so much of the world’s population is undergoing and suffering right now.
‘If the winds fail’, runs a Latin saying, ‘use the oars.’ If the winds that steer Sri Lanka’s ship of state no longer fill its sails, it is time for us to find efficient and capable oarsmen elsewhere. In an island known for its high literacy rate and a clever population, why should this be so far out of reach?