“Out of the abundance of the heart, the mouth speaks”. A good man brings forth good things out of the abundance of good stored in his heart. A bad man could bring only evil things out of the evil he has filled his heart with. When the heart is filled with an abundance of thoughts, be they loving and compassionate, understanding, indulgent and forgiving, ignorant, wildly angry and intimidating, threatening and foolish, it erupts at the first occasion in reply to a situation that elicits a response in a considerate or magnanimous or reactionary, intolerant and belligerent manner.
Thoughts find expression through language. Language gets fiery and expressive when thoughts are heated by reactionary emotion and responses are calmed by reason, serenity and peace. We have often experienced the serene peaceable composure or the silent sadness of our mothers and fathers. They responded with gentle wisdom to the angry and livid outbursts of our adolescent and youthful years. Their temperate reprimands brought us back to good sense. Their patience and immeasurable love brims over even in the face of the heat of anger of their children who soon learn from their mothers who teach without speaking. When a heart is filled with loving kindness and compassion even an angry provocation is met with patient understanding and indulgence.
There is a true story of the Saintly Mother Theresa of Kolkata who used to approach rich people to seek help for the poor she was looking after. When she approached the owner of a bakery and in a humble gesture of begging asked for some bread for her orphans, he got very angry and spat on her face and scolded her. Mother Theresa calmly took out her handkerchief and patiently wiped the spittle off and without any annoyance said, “Thanks for whatever you gave me, but what will you give to help my poor people”. The rich man was stunned by her response. He gave her sufficient funds to help the poor people she was looking after.
It takes a lot of inner resilience to respond to peak anger the way Mother Theresa did. However she teaches us that an interior spiritual strength carries forth also a patience needed to respond to vehement wickedness.
Political madness and anger
The drafting of a New Constitution, a basic and just law for all, attempts to structure sane and solid relationships towards the greater solidarity, fraternity, civility and progress of all people and all parts of Sri Lanka. However the democratic exercise has occasioned the eruption of long-held prejudices, fears of insecurity and anti-democratic stances and attitudes in the narrow hearts of some people who were fierce critics of the existing constitution.
Paradoxically, in the opposition, they wish to keep the constitution they denigrated. These strange attitudes finding expression through unbridled tongues seem to threaten the free options of the majority of the people who have given a mandate to the government headed by President Sirisena and Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe who have ventured on a democratic consultation of the people who have a claim to the land they have for centuries legally inhabited having inherited them from their forefathers.
This collaborative initiative supported by the majority of the people seems to irritate the rejected elements defeated by the people. Though rejected, they blatantly exhibit totalitarian, dictatorial and inhuman tendencies and wish to impose their stand on the people by threat of annihilation and mass murder and genocide and the very obliteration of the state legislature by bombing seemingly showing they are possessed by an underworld satanic power. Politics drives uneducated and uncouth people lacking self-control to madness and frenzied anger.
While they should be dealt legally for sowing social ill-will that disturbs the peace, people should be protected from political thugs. The government should be able to look after the parliamentary complex. Other things have to be done in the meantime.
Keep people informed
The people should get to know properly the facts of the situation of the people of Sri Lanka and understand how selfish and egoistic politicians have denied human rights and justice to the ethnic and religious minorities to whom a fair deal has been long overdue. The will of the majority of the people, who wish to uphold democratic values and live in solidarity with all others and mutually share the respect, honour and dignity of equal citizenship, should be strengthened by sober and true information about the intentions of the government towards the long-standing stable and peaceful future of Sri Lanka.
It is up to the members of the government to speak unambiguously in one voice and keep all the people well-informed and appeal to their intelligence, sense of justice and fairness and good civic sense and not allow them to be misinformed and misguided by self-absorbed and evil megalomaniacs who wish to capriciously manoeuvre themselves to power by bringing about social chaos through pitting large sections of the people against the minorities of Tamil, Muslim and Christian communities. These megalomaniacs are presently at the receiving end of the due deserts of the corrupt deals they have engaged in when they abused power with impunity. So they wish to devise many escape routes to avoid the doom that awaits them as the retribution for their social misdeeds.
The members of the government too have to put their house in order. The unbridled corruption of the last government is no excuse for them to be just 25 to 50% less corrupt. They should all come totally clean and first put the interests of the country before that of their party and their individual selves or else leave politics to others more capable and honest. And the government should prepare and put before the people candidates of the highest integrity with a good educational, professional and social background, for the Provincial and Parliamentary elections, so that, once elected, their performance may not disappoint but tangibly improve the lot of the people and advance the common good.
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