In search of gentlemen

From all that terror teaches, 
From lies of tongue and pen, 
From all the easy speeches
That comfort cruel men....
Deliver us, good Lord. 
  - G.K. Chesterton 

Warring politicians and political par-ties of every hue have been bombarding and bamboozling us with their propaganda through advertisements, posters, cut-outs and pamphlets, and radio and TV. Their message is Messianic: they are going to be our saviours. We of an older generation who have heard and seen these things many times before - and foresuffered all - now see nothing but the hollowness of it all, the hollowness of stuffed men. 

Our generation has seen better days when politics was not a lucrative trade for stuffed men but a noble vocation for public-spirited gentlemen. Barring a very few exceptions, it appears that gentlemen are hard, if not impossible, to come by in a bleak age such as ours of political evil, violence, lies, evasions and deception. It must indeed be difficult for gentlemen to survive with gentlemanly ways in the dirty world of politics. 

We must, however, not give up the search for gentlemen to lead our nation. There should be a few among the 5038 candidates, who can be expected to humane, tolerant, sympathetic, understanding and above all, ethical. There should be a few among the 5038 who possess the symbols of the gentlemanly ideal and the badges of the right to rule. 

The search for the gentleman of course is difficult but the need for this search is more pronounced today than ever before because of the gloom that encircles us - the gloom of ideological splits, political chicanery, excess of unbridled passions, dehumanisation of man, and amoralisation of society. These are only a few examples of the crumbling society around us. 

A crumbling resulting from dilapidation and decay and from "jara, marana" - that our politicians have allowed to occur and recur slowly but surely. This we are called upon to arrest through our votes. 

"Crumbling is not an instant's act," wrote Emily Dickinson in her fine poem by the same name. 
Crumbling is not an instant's Act, 
A fundamental pause
Dilapidation's processes
Are organised Decays. 
'Tis first a Cobweb on the Soul, 
A Cuticle of Rust, 
A Borer in the Axis, 
An Elemental Rust-
Ruin is formal - Devil's work, 
Consecutive and slow-
Fail in an instant, no man did. 
Slipping is Crash's Law. 

Dickinson's message for us in our condition is that our deterioration is an organised, systematic process: one stage of decay has led to the next until destruction must inevitably follow. The wisdom in the idiom 'nipping in the bud' is what could have been put to good use to avert this descent to Avernus. 

Our leaders should have nipped in the bud rather than promoted the symptoms of decay. 

Hope, however, is not altogether lost, for the flame of democracy - flickering though it looks - allows us an opportunity to put things right or at least to arrest the process of decay. In a recent TV debate, Mr. Dyan Jayatilleka made a common sense point, drawing the analogy of parents looking for a bridegroom for their daughter: look at the person's character and track record before making a choice. Party leaders like Dr. Harischandra Wijayatunga and Srinath Perera are saying the same thing. Voters can do the same. Search for gentlemen to represent us in Parliament. 

A gentleman is known by many noble endowments, foremost among them being virtue and wisdom. It is easy to preach a sermon on the subject. It is also easy to catalogue the instances of the unbecoming, sinful and scandalous behaviour which make some of our parliamentarians less than gentlemen. For the present, however, we may consider just one of the many ways of a gentleman: a gentleman uses language agreeably and considerately. He sues the force of argument and not the argument of force. And, politicians are great talkers. 

The boorish manner, the sterile substance and the meanness of spirit of what some of our politicians - both men and women - say, nauseate and revolt the listener. Those among our leaders who would debase the spoken word and make it obscene and vulgar would do well to remember what the Buddha taught about the use of language - "priya vachana" (pleasant speech). 

Raymond Tongue, a British teacher of English, wrote these beautiful lines during an English Teaching assignment he did some years ago in our country. 

Language of the Buddha

What greatly attracts me to the Buddha
Is the civilised concern which he shows
For the temperate use of language.
For him a right way of speaking is one 
Of the stands in the eightfold path leading
To enlightenment and the end of suffering.
To attain this right way all lies, 
All bitter and double-tongued words, 
All idle babbling, must be avoided. 
So equally must harsh abusive speech, 
Arrogant usage heeding only itself. 
And crude expression tending to corrupt. 
Style also is important, and bombastic
Inflated language is condemned no less
Than gentility and plausible fine words. 
Above all the Buddha values restraint
With words, knowing that silence is often
More expressive than the finished poem. 

It is too much to except our parliamentarians to be saints. But surely, it isn't too much to expect them to set a watch upon their tongue that they may never speak a cruel word which is untrue, that they may speak with conviction and not as the scribes. And that their words may "come out from the depth of truth". If they can't do this little thing, they shall continue to become "as sounding brass, or a tinkling symbol". 

Here they are no different

By Kumudini Hettiarachchi in Virginia, USA 

A big, colourful board hanging outside the classroom says, 'Welcome to sign city' and I experience first-hand what it is like to be different. The roles are reversed and the only language understood here is sign language.

We are at the campus of the Virginia School for the Deaf, the Blind and the Multi-Disabled in America. The event had been organized in connection with Deaf Awareness Week, from September 24 to 30. Hearing students from the adjoining building have been invited to step into the world of the deaf just for a day and experience the obstacles their deaf counterparts face every day. They have to imagine themselves in a world where sign language is dominant and the world is run by and for deaf people.

At the health clinic it is painful to see how difficult it is for the 'patient' to make the 10-year-old 'receptionist' understand what her ailments are - be it a headache, stomachache or injury sustained in an accident.

The 'doctor's aide', a seven-year-old with hearing aids in both ears, runs around bandaging the head of another 'patient', taking time off in between to swing to the music being played on a recorder.

At the school, the 17-year-old 'principal' has nearly given up on some of the 'new' students who are inept at learning this language, that of communicating with signs, and pulls his tie in frustration. 

In a corner a 15-year-old 'teacher' unable to wait his turn patiently to impart knowledge, is instructing a big, stuffed tiger on the intricacies of the signs. 

The computer 'teacher' suddenly makes a loud noise and a real teacher explains that as most deaf people can't hear their own voices, whatever sound comes from their throat is very loud and startling to others.

"It is frustrating, when one is unable to get one's message across," was the comment of many of the students from the school next door. "Our students are always looking out the window, wondering. But we never have the opportunity to communicate with them," a teacher from the regular school said. This would increase their sensitivity toward people who have disabilities.

And a teacher explains to them how others — foreigners who don't speak the language in a country they are visiting, disabled people such as the deaf, blind and others and also immigrants — would feel when they face similar situations in real life.

The sound of music fills the air and I hurry to the restaurant where two beautiful teenage girls are doing a 'dance' item for the guests, keeping to perfect rhythm. A teacher is showing them in sign language what the words of 'To me you're everything' by 98 Degrees mean. Sadly they cannot hear a note of the music, because they are totally deaf, but they have practised very hard.

Earlier, the girls were waitresses, serving cupcakes and brownies their classmates baked for this great event. One girl giggles, saying through an interpreter, "I really liked working at the restaurant and meeting the hearing students. There was one special boy who is very cute. I got his phone number."

I leave the classroom feeling they are no different to us, though many a time we do make the mistake of thinking they are. Maybe projects of this type should be introduced in our school system too.

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