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A new mindset needed

A steep obstacle on the journey to peace is the tendency on the part of some of our political personalities and parties to be prisoners of the past.

This has been happening over the past 25 years or more and shows all signs of recurring at present, provided an earnest effort is made by them to leave the past behind, invest themselves with a visionary mindset and help rebuild Sri Lanka on new foundations.

We are led to these thoughts on learning that the UNP is yet to make up its mind on participating in the deliberations of the National Advisory Council for Peace and Reconciliation (NACPR).

It is, however, encouraging to note that the President and the Leader of the Opposition have had a one-to-one meeting on the UNP joining the NACPR process and connected issues.

We consider this a positive and encouraging development. We hope this dialogue process between the President and the Leader of the UNP would continue in view of the crucial role they play in the peace process.

We are also glad to learn that this discussion has proved "informative and constructive". We urge continuous dialoguing among these parties for the purpose of arriving at an agreement on how the peace process should be kickstarted and continued.

It could be gathered that there are some commonalities between these major Southern parties to the conflict. These need to be built on. Some time back the Government agreed that the negotiations should be resumed with the LTTE on the basis of the principal consensual positions arrived at between the Government and LTTE in Oslo.

This has been, of course, the position of the UNP but it insists on Government - LTTE talks resuming immediately and doesn't see any point in the NACPR process.

The latter position is based on a misconception. The UNP labours under the misunderstanding that the NACPR deliberations would supplant the process of direct negotiations between the Government and the LTTE, resulting in a deceleration of the peace effort.

In other words, NACPR talks are seen by the UNP as a time - buying exercise. In making this assessment of the NACPR, the UNP is allowing itself to be guided by the past, wherein similar "all-party" deliberations only drew a blank.

For its part, the Government has made it clear that it would be talking to the Tigers in a parallel but independent process. The NACPR deliberations would in no way supplant this process, nor would the Government allow its authority in this matter to be usurped by any other body.

However, the NACPR could be instrumental in forming a Southern consensus on the ethnic issue, and here's where the opposition would prove handy. This is no replication of past attempts at resolving the conflict. It is no attempt at pouring "old wine" into "new wineskins" and the UNP would be only serving the national interest by joining the NACPR talks.

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Teeth and memories

Your next visit to the dentist may be painful in more ways than one. When your dentist pulls an aching tooth he could be yanking out some of your memory at the same time, according to a new Swedish study presented in Stockholm last week.

We all dread the regular visits to the dentist. Many people who bravely go into the operation theatre for say, brain surgery, shudder at the mere thought of a tooth extraction. And now they have a very good reason to evade the dentist altogether.

"Teeth appear to be of the utmost importance to our memories," says Jan Bergdahl, an associate psychology professor at the Umeaa University in northern Sweden, a dentist and one of the authors of the study. When people have no teeth their memories are clearly worse than when they have teeth, says Bergdahl.

Animal (mammalian) tests have already shown that pulling teeth severs nerves to the brain. There is no reason to doubt that humans are any different. In fact, the whole head is literally a bundle of nerves, so damage to one organ/part may affect another, wholly unexpected area.

The new Swedish study could dramatically change dental care, especially for the elderly in the future. Memories are precious and for some people, those are all they have to go on. Dentists will have to think twice before pulling out those teeth that might harbour happy memories.

Scientists engaged in this research do not yet know how the extraction of a single tooth affects the memory, but they are sure to 'map' the different teeth that affect different segments of the memory.

Dentists literally armed to the teeth with such advanced knowledge will be able to decide whether to go ahead with a particular tooth extraction. Scientists are looking into how many teeth a person has to lose before it affects their memory. They will also investigate how tooth decay affects memory loss.

If the loss of teeth affects the memory, will the reverse also work ? In other words, can dental implants boost memory ? This sounds far-fetched, but medical technology is moving fast and nothing seems impossible.

Like memory itself, teeth are with us for life. They can be replaced, but it is not the real thing. If memories go out with the teeth, we may have to fight tooth and nail to prevent the dentist from probing the cavities that hold the key to the secrets of our lives.

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