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Together for All

Our front page caption story yesterday showing a conscientious citizen handing over a cheque for Rs.100,000 towards the Api Wenuven Api Fund to Defence Secretary Gotabhaya Rajapaksa, demonstrates there are people with a heart who have not abandoned our valiant men on the battlefield.

According to Tamara Nilanthi who made this donation the money was set apart for a trip to India by her parents. However they decided to donate it for this worthy cause.

It is hoped that Nilanthi’s gesture would stir the conscience of others too to contribute their mite towards this Fund set up to meet the material requirements of our soldiers. Hopefully it would also be a catalyst for focusing more and more on the role of our men on the battlefront.

We say this because today many have abdicated our responsibity towards our heroes laying down their lives for the motherland. Most of us continue as if there is no conflict let alone the sacrifices made by our troops.

Reports of deaths of soldiers on the battlefield barely register with some of us who are too busy with our partying and carousing. Come a tour by a foreign cricket team the entire nation comes to a standstill. It is only a bomb or some major attack in the city that jolts us into the realisation that there is war being waged in another part of the country.

This feeling though is short lived lasting until the next incident. It is no exaggeration to say that the prolonged conflict and its protracted nature has anaesthetized a majority of us to brutality and violence. Nay it has rid us of all feeling, concern and sentiment. Hence this casual laid back attitude.

Very few are even acquainted with the trials and tribulations of the men on the battlefield. Some corporate bosses make token contributions to salve their conscience with an eye of publicity.

It is in this context that the donations made by the likes of Nilanthi are invaluable. More than anything it carries a genuine empathy with our heroes doing battle. It is also a wake up call to others whose attitudes are marked by a total lack of concern to the sacrifices of our troops.

The upcoming festive season will once again manifest this attitude, with a majority caught up in the festive mood. Going by the many advertisements and blurbs in the press and electronic media this year won’t be any different to the others and all is set for a grand ball. No doubt the fighting in the North will be furthest from the minds of the city folk come December which is the month of revelry and celebration.

We are certainly not killjoys who are hell bent on dampening the spirit of Yuletide. We are not suggesting that all should wear sombre looks and sport gloomy countenances. However, there is a need to be circumspect in these times.

Those rejoicing should give a thought to the fact that they are allowed their indulgences because of the grit and valour of our heroic men who are preventing a marauding band of terrorists from spoiling their party.

They should also spare a thought for the innocent villages in the vulnerable regions who are braving the threat of the terrorists so that most of us could carry on with our merry way.

Our soldiers need all the moral support as at no other time in the history of this conflict now that they are poised to annihilate the enemy. Mere material contributions alone would not give them this sense of upliftment.

We should show them by our attitudes that we are with them in their hour of peril. This is why austerity is called for. No doubt a show of sensitivity towards their sacrifices would go a long way in injecting fresh spirit among our heros egging them on to give their all towards eradicating terrorism.

Let this be the beginning of ‘giving’ to our valiant men who have given us our freedom, by sacrificing their lives, for our tomorrow. Let this gesture also be a beginning where all of us though not in body at least in spirit be with our heros sharing in their sacrifices and bonded in empathy.

The Importance of Il Poya

The Il Poya falls on November 12. It is the last Poya of the "Wassana" Rainy Season and a number of important incidents occurred on this day. Therefore, it is a significant day in the Buddhist calender.

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Global community shunning attempts to save Tigers

A well respected Hindu astrologer had predicted to some devotees of ‘Sun God Thalavar’ that the ‘Sun God’ will die soon. The astrologer, Theventharajah, said that Prabhakaran is seriously ill and is a chronic diabetic. His insulin intake has been disrupted due to constant shelling by the Sri Lankan Air Force and he would die from diabetic complications. This is indeed shocking news to many of ‘Sun God Thalavar’s followers the world over.

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Sacred stupas

One of the oldest sacred forms of Buddhist art is the stupa, a profound representation of liberation from the bindings of the material world:

The concept of samsara, the illusory nature of the material world, underlies the Indian philosophic vision. The search is constantly to rise above illusion (maya, or mithya), to seek the truth beyond: to lose our ego and attachments to the objects of the world around us. To see our oneness with all that there is.

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