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| Sunday, 21 December 2003 |
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| News Business Features Editorial
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All I want for Christmas... Light Refractions by Lucien Rajakarunanayake My dear Santa, Hope this does not reach you too late, after you have packed your bags of gifts, loaded the sleigh and got Rudolph ready for your annual ride out of your hideout to bring joy to those who need it.
As for the Prime Leader of the Greens, who has the fast dwindling elephant as his symbol, I know what I am about to suggest will cause you some concern. Yet, I think it is best. I am aware Santa that you do not give, and also do not encourage parents to give even toy weapons as gifts. However, in this instance, I am strongly of the view that it would do well all round if you bring him some toy weapons to play with, because of his great desire to have defence in his hands. You may think of toy models of those Israeli Uzi automatics, some AK47s, and some battle tanks, armoured cars, artillery pieces and at least one of those latest guns that can shoot round corners. This will help him to spend plenty of time planning mock military battles and playing war games, to help take his mind away from an overpowering desire for defence. As for those red-shirted types of the liberation kind, who are ringing their bell almost as loud as yours and shouting their own Ho, Ho, Ho of so-called liberation, I think the best gift will be several chairs, to help them get used to playing musical chairs. They have for a long time got used to being stuck in the same seats as well as thoughts. Now that they are seeking an alliance with those of the chair symbol, it will help them to know what playing about with chairs is like, and also what the feeling will be if they in fact come to occupy what are called the seats of power. I have given much thought as to what is best as a gift for the Leader of the Opposition, who is true blue in colour but sports an earthy reddish brown scarf and the Deputy Leader of the Greens, who is always glad in white, although one notices he is not so comfortable in such squeaky white clothes. I hope it is not too late, but I do hope you will be able to get those fairy workers in your toy factory to fabricate two platforms for them, that cannot be cut from underneath as they stand on them. Having such a thing will bring great comfort to them, helping them overcome the challenge they now face of so often, of having the grass cut from under their feet. Then there is the scion of Attanagalla, who believes he is still the laird there, whose moves would even baffle his sister with the political crystal ball in her hands. What I would suggest you bring for him to enjoy himself for some time is a whole big bag of toy hammers and sickles, for he has suddenly begun to believe in the power of the hammer and sickle even more than the bell boy red shirts that are usually trust in them. This is a new found love for him as he once was of the firm view that hammers and sickles had no place in the politics of our country. Plenty of hammers and sickles around him, with some large red flags to drape round his ample body will I am sure bring him great joy for months to come. I can't forget the one that is Christian. God knows why, but it is he who Ministers to those who are Christian here. He recently had his interior taken away from him, and must be feeling a great hollow inside. With all your magic and love of the destitute I don't think Santa that you can have something to overcome that empty feeling with his interior not with him. But I am sure he will be glad to have the uniform of a policeman, possibly of the rank of a DIG or even IGP, as it goes in our country, to help him cover up his empty interior. There's one thing more that will give him great joy indeed. You may not like to carry such ghoulish toys Santa, but just to cheer the man I would plead with you to bring him a toy gallows, and some dolls of ordinary people to hang from it, because he is such an ardent lover of the hangman's noose and capital punishment. I would also recommend that you bring some more replicas of such toy gallows for all the members of the Catholic Bishops Conference for tolerating this man as the one who Ministers to Christians, when the Catholic Church, as I know it, is firmly against capital punishment. I'm sure you can check on that with the hotline you have to His Holiness at the Vatican. There are many more things that I can think for those of the ministering kind, but there are so many of them in these parts, those with cabinet rank, those who are deputies, and others who have subjects without functions, and so it goes on. To ask that you bring gifts for all of them would make your sleigh overweight and Rudolph strain too much, especially with their love for power and all the goodies that go with it. I do not want to delay your journey around the globe filling the stockings of all those people. You may not find it as easy to find your way in our city of Colombo as you may have done last year, because all those extravagant lights throughout the city are not there this year. But there are enough guiding lights at, near and around the many hotels, and other places of entertainment, where several hundreds will be singing their throats hoarse with "Silent Night, Holy Night" while millions around them will be living in poverty, not knowing what this season of love means at all. I know Santa that you never fail to go to the North of our land on your yearly visit here. This time too Santa there are many in the North and East too, who could be helped very much with just a blessing of encouragement to be able to face up to the threat that they face from the brutal clawing of those with the Tiger emblem. With all your love for children, you must not forget to visit those hundreds of children who have been taken by force to be trained to die in battle or even as human bombs, and with all the magic that you have shown them a way to escape from the bondage they are kept in. As I watch television these days Santa, I am always surprised by the many advertisements that show you in the best of houses, with the most gleaming floors and all the gadgetry that one could think of, or even in supermarkets where the shelves are loaded with things are far beyond the reach of millions who live in poverty. I'm sure that those are not places you visit by choice, and that you don't bother to look at your face reflected in the shine of a floor that uses a particular polish, or even bother to taste those sausages and junk food that you are being linked with these days. Tables groaning with the weight of roast turkey, chicken and all those other meats must certainly not be to your taste, that is always in favour of those who are humble and in need. Therefore, Santa, as your sleigh flies over us all with your "Ho, Ho, Ho" urging Rudolph along with speed, just use that magic wand of yours to give all our poor some hope of better days to look forward to, and for all in our country the hope of a genuine peace, where all people will be assured of what are known as Human Rights, and the Tiger will have its claws pared so as to pose no danger to the people anymore. |
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| Editorial | Security Produced by Lake House |
Over here in this little isle of ours there are many who could do with
some gifts from you, to make this a memorable season. To begin, there is
the highest in the land, now with defence in her hands too, who would be
glad to have a crystal ball of the political kind and a bell with a loud
ring. The crystal ball would do much to help her foresee political events,
especially in the planning of these things known as elections where two or
three sides battle it out over ballots to get into some seats in a place
in that Talk Shop by the Diyawanna Oya. The bell will be useful when she
has to summon or call to order the red-shirted types, who are all but
dying to have an alliance with her.
