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| Sunday, 4 July 2004 |
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Features |  |
| News Business Features Editorial
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Civilian Bravery Awards : Our Heroes By Kaminie Jayanthi Liyanage One Gold, two Silver and eight Student Awards are expected to be
awarded when the Civilian Bravery Awards Ceremony (Viru Jana Weera Sammana)
2003/4 of the Civilian Bravery Foundation takes What is bravery? Why would a man or a woman, sacrifice one's life voluntarily to save that of one's brother or sister? What meaning would it have for humanity? How could it make our lives better and turn our direction away from the abyss back to spring fields, fragrant with the flowers of humaneness? This year, as the Civilian Bravery Foundation, for the 12th time, lauds citizens who have braved the fiercest odds to salvage the perishing lives of those other than themselves, we are forced to ask this question, from the Foundation's President, Kasun P. Chandraratne, and from ourselves. For, it seems, that we have lost our sense of "honour" which, in the past, infused the right context of meaning to "heroism", defining the preciousness of "life" and respect to a living being's "freedom of living."
"Honour is the commitment one feels, to do the right thing to protect life, even at risk to one's own life" articulates Chandraratne. "But, in Sri Lanka, citizens are not usually seen as heroes. Here, heroism is generally associated with the military and affluent people and not sufficiently enough with those from the suppressed sectors of society." In military bravery, bravery is to conquer. But, in civilian bravery, it is to save life. Bhagavat Gita records that Indrajith, a righteous warrior, about to engage in war, starts crying. He tells Krishna, 'they are my neighbours, friends and relations that I have to kill in war.' He cries because his purpose is to save, not to destroy. Such civilian bravery is the summit of bravery. Three recipients who were spurred on by this sense of duty and empathy for humankind, have been selected for this year's Civilian Bravery medals. * One is a three wheeler driver who died while trying to save two women about to drown in sea at Galle Face, while on a visit to Colombo with his family of two sons and an infant of three months. Chandraratne says that his family had declined to accept the medal and may not be present at the awards ceremony. * The second recipient is a youngster from Morawaka, who saved the lives of 21 people stranded on a rooftop during the raging floods in the South. "He had started this task in the night with the aid of a vehicle's head lights and had swum until early hours in the morning, carrying to safety each one of the 21, strapped to his back. This youngster is now asking for a job." * The third is a teacher in Marawila who jumped into a burning refuse pit to save a student who had fallen in, during a shramadana campaign. Though he succeeded bringing the child out of the pit, the child succumbed to his burns while the teacher still bears the consequences of his severe burns, says Chandraratne. Chandraratne conceived the idea of awarding civilian bravery on reading the story of a little girl who had won a similar award for saving the life of her father, fallen from his horse, by the mere act of assisting the limping man to reach an area where people could help him. A story he had read in a Reader's Digest, bought from the pavement at one rupee! In a fitting gesture, the representative of Reader's Digest in Sri Lanka, Vijitha Yapa Group, will sponsor the Gold Medal at this year's ceremony. Says Vijitha Yapa, Chairman of the group, "In a world dominated by war, what is highlighted, may it be in Iraq, Afghanistan, Kashmir or Sri Lanka, is bravery associated with war, either of soldiers, or journalists, or citizens. But, war is an extraordinary situation. People we are recognising are ordinary people who acted on the spur of the moment, with no thought of themselves, to save the life of somebody. Such people, who thought of others before themselves, pose a challenge to humanity." What distinguishes humans from those who are not, is the quality of compassion, Yapa makes a point. "Yet, in a materialistic world, this is often overlooked. That is why recognizing citizens with this kind of quality of bravery is important. It could lead to a new rising in the country." Mahinda Gunawardena, Head, Botany Section, National Museum, sums up the Kala Mal to be named "Flares of Civilian Bravery" as "A flower endemic to Sri Lanka, growing close to water in the dry zone." He says that a drawing of the flower, done 150 years ago by a technical officer named Alwis Seneviratne is preserved in the museum. A flower, with a somewhat poisonous quality to fish, yet consecrated to the cause of the value of life. According to Chandraratne, creepers bearing this flower was abundant at the site King Dhatusena came in search of, to construct Kala Wewa. Creepers can still be found growing around the lake, he says. As Prof. Mendis Rohanadheera describes the Budal Na award as being founded on a historic tale significant to the preservation of life and he says that the story is supported by the Mahawansa and three copper plates found by a farmer in the 1950s, in his fields in Morawaka, down South. "Ven. Kamburupitiya Vanaratana Maha Thero, an archaeologist himself, took the plates to Prof. Senerath Paranavitana and the professor found a parallel to Mahawansa in the plate inscriptions in which King Vijayabahu had recorded in the presence of the Royal Court, that Budal Na, Dhanda Nayaka of Ruhuna (the South), fed and protected the prince and his family by hiding them from bush to bush in the Southern jungle of Ranmale Gongala, during the period of Chola siege (from 1017 to 1070)," says Prof. Rohanadheera. In appreciation of this protection and guidance in overcoming the Chola yoke to unify the South, the plates are said to have recorded the King declaring Budal Na and his descendants free from capital punishment and state confiscation of property, even in the event of killing another person. By 1055, King Vijayabahu the Great was the sole ruler of the Ruhuna. Chadraratne who began his crusade to discover local civilian bravery in 1993 January by forming the Foundation, had also proposed an Act to form a President's Trust to award civilian bravery. He feels that appreciation of civilian bravery at state level is imperative for developing moral upliftment in citizenry. He says, "I see a lack of morality in some of those working in state bodies." In contrast, he is happy that several private sector companies have stepped forward to assist awarding civilian bravery this year. He has also taken pains to find recipients from the North and the East and says, as in the South, here too, his attempts have not yielded much. "Everywhere, the suppressed is suppressed." |
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place at the Auditorium of
Sausiripaya, Colombo 7, at 2 p.m. on July 8. Prime Minister Mahinda
Rajapakse is billed to attend the ceremony as the Chief Guest, with
special guest, Col. Gordon Birdwood, Board Member, Royal Humane Society of
the U.K. and guest of honour, Sir Arthur C. Clarke. Judge C. Weeramanthri
will also participate at the ceremony.
