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Decadence
of Society VIP’s from a significant overseas donor group that support the nation and its people post tsunami gathered for a farewell dinner, after visiting the projects they had supported in Sri Lanka in order to alleviate the suffering of the poor and the weak. During dinner they questioned the Sri Lankans present about shocking stories they had heard that left them wondering as to what they were doing in this poverty stricken nation. They had heard that “the children of the big business cannot go to sleep unless and until they spend each night one hundred thousand rupees in a night club, hotel or in the casino” and that “ a religious group and a people’s movement were protesting against a delegation of representatives of multi lateral donors attempting to go to the north on a mission of mercy to assess how they can better support development and alleviate the suffering of the war and tsunami affected people and that action was after the same group had taken legal injunctions to prevent a structure being established to channel donor money to the benefit tsunami affected people”. The Wise Old Owl on hearing these probing questions from the well meaning donor group identified three decadent actors involved and recollected the poem titled “Children of Wealth in your Warm Nursery” by Elizabeth Daryush, the young owls were interpreting in their English Literature class, that read: “Children
of wealth in The
young decadent brats of powerful politicians, the drug mafia and
the rich businessmen dine in five star surroundings and spend the
better part of the night rolling the dice and drinking in bars and
clubs, where a superior scotch is priced at Rs 20,000 a bottle and
superior champagne at Rs 25,000 per bottle. The Buddhist priests and the movements seeking “Vimukthi” in their respective “citadels safe from feelings and knowledge” certainly do not bring any hope of economic, social or spiritual empowerment to the people celebrating independence by their decadent action wrapped around in cozy seats of power, undue enrichment and lack of a proven path to enlightenment of the people. Whilst words of loving kindness, compassion and “mettha” to all including the enemy is the way forward teaching of the greatest philosopher they follow in robes, the power hungry monks and their flock lead the nation astray with war drums, hatred and denial of help to the suffering masses of this nation, merely because by an accident of birth they were born of different ethnicity in the northern parts of the same country. This certainly is not the way of the Thathagatha. Those purportedly seeking emancipation “Vimukthi” of their brothers and sisters of this nation have found new allies within the highest positions in the halls of justice and government treasury and engage them to support the long term plans to gain power in exchange for personal gains and national positions. Is this is not decadence of society by those protected by double panes of glass? These men in high positions in justice and treasury appear ever ready to block the nation’s people in the north and the south from enjoying the benefits of peace and prosperity. In the name of a unitary nation, historical homeland concepts, the superiority of the majority and their continuing disproportionate benefits at the expense of the minorities appear to be the guiding principles in justice and resource sharing, they use to justify the denial of benefits of developmental projects capable of implementation with blocked foreign aid in the north and the east. The decadence in the halls of higher justice appear to have been heightened recently by the big gun articulating that minorities have been the bane of this nation and by actions that purportedly led to his flock departing their seats of commission on issues of conscience. Decadence of Society is surely a gift from the nation’s leaders. (The
writer could be reached at wo_owl@yahoo.co.uk). |
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