In serving each other, we become free

The biggest disease today is not leprosy or tuberculosis but rather the feeling of being unwanted, uncared for, and deserted by everybody.

~ Mother Teresa

A man who feels nothing, loves nothing, is nothing. For, if you love nothing, there is no joy in your life.

As human beings, we are bound to be happy only if our life has a meaning. Aimless life is an empty life.

The most meaningful way to create happiness and a sense of purpose in life is to serve each other to the best of our abilities. Attachment to someone, or something, with selfless intent, can also bring fulfillment in life.

Commitment

We may have everything we ever wanted in life, but without love and commitment, it will be nothing we really needed or wanted from life.

We Sri Lankans possess all the qualities that one needs, to be happy and contented in life. Yet, if we have not succeeded in being so, it is worth reflecting on why and where we have gone wrong.

In my opinion, politics and politicians have been the bane of our life. Some of the politically adept politicians have proliferated our life to such an extent that today all our day to day activities, needs and necessities, are conditioned and controlled by what they have done, or do, and say.

Temperaments

The new human community that a new Sri Lanka requires needs to cut across all cultures and temperaments.

We Sri Lankans need not fit into any specific culture, but need to face the challenges in accepting them all as part of our life at some point.

Though we may hail from more individualistic cultures, we can still love and lay emphasis on affirming one another and sharing hurts and problems.

We should learn to be more accommodative without having to hate the idea of accountability and discipline in relation to each other.

Sri Lankans from more traditional communal cultures love the emphasis on accountability for morals and beliefs but often chafe at emphasis on racial reconciliation and being open about one’s personal hurts and preferences. Hence, we give room for mischief makers to create mayhem in our society.

We need to practise forgiveness, tolerance, and reconciliation. Our communities should learn to trust one another and believe in the concept of brotherhood, more as a spiritual rather than a human reality. We should take pride in our differences, and in this should differ from all other communities elsewhere in the world.

Every one of us is responsible to begin the process of reconciliation, regardless of how the distance or alienation began. In its most basic and simple form, this effort should ensure that we never give up on one another, never give up on a relationship, and never write off another brethren.

We must never tire of forgiving and seeking to repair our relationships.

Relationship

If anything, we should go to someone if we know they have something against us. Likewise, we should approach someone if we have something against them.

In short, if any relationship has cooled off or has weakened in any way, it is always your move.

It doesn’t matter who started it. We have to hold ourselves responsible to reach out to repair a tattered relationship.

As Sri Lankans, we should be responsible to begin the process of reconciliation.

Message

As Mother Teresa would say, if we want a love message to be heard, it has got to be sent out. To keep a lamp burning, we have to keep putting oil in it.

If, as a Nation, we are to find happiness, we need to find peace. Peace cannot be found in noise and restlessness. Peace is the friend of silence.

See how nature - trees, flowers, grass - grows in silence; see the stars, the moon and the sun, how they move in silence. We need silence to be able to touch souls.

The noise that some of our politicians make, only go to disturb the peace, and deprive our happiness.

See you this day next week. Until then, keep thinking; keep laughing. Life is mostly about these two activities.

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