VALUES: Just last week the 'Daily News' carried a story of a retired government servant who returned Rs.2,000 to the bank after having discovered he had received this money in excess with his pension money. This gentleman lives at Thorana Kade in Eheliyagoda.

The same week a Sinhala daily published an account where a nurse from Eththiligoda, Galle had found a purse on the Galle Road with Rs.4,500 and handed it to the Police station to be returned to the legitimate owner. (We beleive the owner has got that money by now).

The same newspaper elsewhere carried another interesting story. According to the story a gang had arrived in a van and grabbed Rs.500,000 while the money was taken to be deposited in a bank. The gang had bundled the motorcyclist who was carrying the money, into the van. The gang took the man and his motorbike strapped together in the van. After travelling a short distance they dropped the man, legs tied and then disappeared with the stolen money.

A third story in the same newspaper referred to another theft. It was a story where a dog was stolen by a person who had come in a three-wheeler and a woman claiming the snatched away dog. She said she had paid Rs.12,000 for the dog.

These news stories in brief I have cited to point out the threat faced by ordinary people who constantly live in fear for their safety. It is also a pointer to all round deterioration and decadence in society.

Perusing through the pages of newspapers we would come across statements made by our Cultural Affairs and National Heritage Minister and also Prime Minister lamenting over the cultural degradation. The statements stress the need to encourage and uplift cultural values inherent in us as Sri Lankans and specially that of the Sinhalese.

There is, therefore, an immediate need for soul searching. We as a nation have to turn the torch inwards and find out where we have gone wrong. It is easy to blame others for our mistakes and weaknesses. But it is extremely difficult to accept our failures, faults, omissions and commission that had led to the present predicament.

We blame foreign domination. We find fault with the Portuguese, the Dutch and the British who have ruled the country. The Portuguese were here by chance but they got involved in our internal affairs at our invitation. The Dutch and the British were all here and they were not invaders. But when the internal strife had turned to a critical stage, the Sinhalese Kings sought their assistance and in turn the circumstances provided them with the opportunity to rule the country for about 500 years from 1505 until we won Independence.

In recent times we went on blaming the introduction of the open economy and the introduction of the Television for all the current evils that has beset the country. We blame the free flow of corrupt ideas while doing nothing constructive or say `No' to them within our shores.

A nation, if not firmly rooted in the soil of its origins would in all probability lose her identity. But thanks to the culture based on Buddhist teaching, despite many shortcomings we still cling to our roots and have not lost our identity. But what happened was in the course of time, the culture and our behaviour patterns got coloured, tarnished or mixed with other cultures.

The people while learning the language of others also embraced and adopted other cultures and ways of life. That is how we see men wearing a simple cloth over trousers! Men go in tie tail coat and hat! The June 15th `Daily News' lead story was about a changing of the dress code for public servants. The Government is planning to scrap the ruling of the Premadasa regime where the State Officials were enjoined to wear ties resembling the period under the British rule.

The dress denotes the ethnicity of a particular race or a nation. But the western dress common to all westerners whatever the country and the language, did not change. But in the east we see there is stress on a particular dress to signify the nation one represents.

But mere change of the dress could hardly do anything concrete unless there is attitudinal change. What about the manners and cultural habits? What about respecting the rights of others and right to life and property? There seem to be no stress on that. Day in and day out we hear the religious teachings.

Sermons, Anusasanas and admonitions given for good living. There is `bana', other religious instructions, prayers and stanzas relayed or played over the radio or electronic media to begin the day. But the irony is no one is safe. There is risk at every turn. That is why that person who was on his way to the bank was robbed of his money. The dog was stolen.

If we go back a few months, one would have recalled reading how some organisations and the Cultural Ministry awarded citizens in appreciation of their good work.

But it is sad that this sort of recognition is very much limited and insufficient. The man who returned the extra money he got from the bank, the nurse who handed over the purse with money to the police go unnoticed. They are not recognised, appreciated or rewarded and held as examples for others to follow.

If there is cultural degradation, then we must ask ourselves to what an extent we are responsible for the state of affairs. What have we done to correct the situation, we should ask ourselves without pointing the finger at others.

The Cultural Affairs and National Heritage Ministry should step in and accord due recognition to the meritorious acts committed by the people and set them as models for others to follow.

The nation look to the Cultural Affairs and National Heritage Minister Mahinda Yapa Abeywardene with confidence with the hope that he would do his utmost to inculcate good manners so that all citizens could stand up before the world with just pride and win for Sri Lanka the honour as a cultured nation. A nation which gives recognition to the good deeds of her people even in their small way.