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| Sunday, 8 May 2005 |
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The Right column Foot in the mouth As Mark Twain used to say every child puts his or her foot in the mouth sometime someday. He said even George Washington would have done it. Well, that was speaking literally. But people very often put their foot in the mouth even metaphorically. The latest to achieve this not so noble feat was our own Finance Minister. In a rare moment of indiscretion he has spoken disparagingly about our employees at the CEB or the Ceylon Electricity Board. He was reported to have likened them to "kalakanniyas' or wretched good for nothings. The Sinhala word kalakanniyas may have several nuances. We are at a loss to comprehend the exact nuance the Minister used. Whatever it is the statement would have been better left unuttered. We were also astonished to hear such an utterance from a minister who was generally regarded as an affable gentleman, an erudite scholar. It is difficult, however, to guard your tongue. This reminds me of the local adage, which says that it is not possible to fence the mouth even if you could fence the country. It is the same advice that Canadian poet Walter Drummond gave when he said: "Put a bridle on thy tongue Set a guard before thy lips Lest the words of thine own mouth Destroy thy peace... On much speaking cometh repentance But in silence is safety" The offended CEB workers held a token strike condemning the Minister's remarks and demanded an apology. What offended them more was the Minister calling them horas or thieves. Did the Minister have proof? So far he has produced none. While sympathising with the workers the Sceptic would like to remind them that they have no moral right to inconvenience the consumers. Strike is a weapon that should be used to good use for justifiable causes. It is perhaps one of the last weapons and obviously not the first weapon. The indiscriminate use of the strike weapon shows not the strength of the working class but their intellectual bankruptcy. The Sceptic holds no brief for the Minister or for that matter for any minister. Certainly, the minister was in the wrong. His action is symptomatic of arrogance of power that afflicts most of our leaders. Humility no longer seems to be a virtue of theirs. It is best if they could listen to Jim Rohn, American Business Philosopher: "The challenge of leadership is to be strong, but not rude; be kind, but not weak; be bold, but not bully; be thoughtful, but not lazy; be humble, but not timid; be proud, but not arrogant; have humor, but without folly." - the Sceptic |
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