Watch it again! Read it again! It’s a stab that goes through a sensitive heart…

Now this is an image which can make a sensitive heart crying just from a second. I was met up with this photo accidently in an old magazine that I found. The image suddenly caught my attention- by drowning me into curiosity as a man covers a head, and a child sleeps on his lap. So as I explored more, undoubtedly this left my heart broken from an instance and then I realized I’ve tears in my eyes when I was watching the image by knowing the story. This image and the story behind it is worth sharing……
So now, The four year old child recognizes his father only from his voice. The most heart breaking part of the moment is, this little child falls asleep on his father’s warmth for three minutes from the allowed five minutes. Under the heating sun on a sandy dessert this infant sleeps sound on his father’s lap. At the moment suddenly the lenses of Jane Mark captures this scenario. This incident was recognized as a most emotional scene not only by the American forces but also throughout the world. The child who was sleeping the last sleep on his father’s affection and warmth, even during the 20 minutes of extra time given, was jerked on the last minute and bids farewell to his father forever. After that Jane Mark was unable to see either this father or son.
“I saw that humanity…. Even I have a daughter from the same age in my county. I did not see a terrorist… I saw a father. I captured the paternal love. But that was not one of the best incidents in the world. It was an incident one must not see, a father must not go through and a child must never experience” says Jane Mark with the capture he shot. Amidst all the 63,000 photographs from various 4330 photographers out of 124 countries across the world this photograph from Jane Mark –‘the end of a paternal love’ was selected as the best shot and awarded the Pulitzer award.

This photo is getting captured by the French photographer, Jane Mark, on the 13th of March 2003, in an American army base.

Amidst an adverse condition that occurred in between Iranians and American soldiers this father is getting arrested and sentenced to death and as the last desire of this father, he gets the chance to see his son just for five minutes. But this innocent little child was not able to see his father’s face as according to the law a terrorist who is sentenced to death is not allowed to uncover his face. So as this father requests for permission to go to his son an hour before he breathes his last breath, was granted permission in an open land.

Made in SRI LANKA...

 

As a result of foreign invasion to our country, we were accustomed to most western habits and customs. At the same time, white people stole our precious resources and persuade our people to follow the western culture. Then, the prosperity of our small island gradually faded away as they had taken many of the precious and natural resources to their countries. The arrival of western culture to our country leads our people to wear trouser and shirt instead of our national dress as well as to degrade our own products as they were accustomed to appreciate western products.

So, nowadays whenever people see the phrase “Made in Sri Lanka”, they used to ignore those products and select products which were imported to our country especially from countries like China, Japan, Britain etc. Although now we are not under the British rule, our people were accustomed to follow their customs, products and traditions. Actually we have everything to live in our island but unfortunately today they all are exported to various countries and our people have to buy imported products. Also, with this situation whenever new Sri Lankan products were introduced to our market, most of our people avoid to value and appreciate those. Why can’t we value our own products? I think the problem is with the attitude on Sri Lankan products. For an instance, the first ever car which was totally made in Sri Lanka “Vega” is now sold to abroad as our country does not have sufficient promoters and admirers. Also I think that many educated people leave our country because of the same reason. So, today we import many products to our country whereas our products are exported to various countries in the world.

The best thing we can do to prevent this situation is we should value and appreciate our own products and help to promote Sri Lankan products among ourselves by avoiding foreign products. When we develop the attitude on our products we can develop as a country because we can save a great amount of money which were used to import products. Then gradually we can label our country as a developed country as well as to create our own national identity in the world as Sri Lankans. So, let’s try to develop our country by valuing and buying our own products with positive attitude towards Sri Lankan products.

HIGH HEELS, A SYMBOL OF FEMININITY?

 

Most commonly, people consider high heels as a symbol of femininity but it conveys a deep meaning than what we know. To begin with, I would like to let you know that high heels was originally considered to be men’s apparel. I think that now you are curious to know the origin of high heels. 

High heels were first worn in 15^th century by Persian soldiers in order to secure their feet in stirrups. Then, the migrants of Persia brought them to Europe and male aristocrats wore them with the intention of appearing taller and formidable. 

Catherine de Medici was the first woman to wear high heeled shoes and that was in the 16^th century. She wore those as she wanted to appear tall at her wedding. She was 150 cm tall when she wore high- heeled shoes. Until she wore them, high –heeled shoes were men’s apparel.

Louis XIV of France wore high heeled court shoes to appear more powerful and domineering. In the portraits of the king, the shoes were dyed red; expensive pigment to show superior social status. Even, he banned the entering of people to the court without red-soled shoes. Somehow, right to wear high heels was extended to the general population. Pin posters of 1940 s and 1950 s presented that high heels as a symbol of glamour and femininity. Meanwhile,trend came to Hollywood and actresses wore them in films. So, everyday women replicate the look at their homes. With the demand, high heels reached the stores. Today,  they are very common and there are various types of high heels especially wear by women.

High heels, a symbol of femininity,glamour,sexuality and power?

Klages (2006) in her book called, ‘Literary Theory’ stated as follows,

“You might think here about high heels as a signifier: generally, a foot in a high-heeled shoe signifies that there’s a vagina and breasts attached to the wearer, because in our culture high heels are a signifier of femaleness and femininity. But anyone can wear high heels – and will be seen as ‘feminine’ because of it”.

High heels can be worn by any person, may be a woman or  a man. But as soon as you see high heels, you think that always a woman should wear them. Society expects woman to wear high heels. For example, most of the companies make high heels compulsory as the dress code for women. But why? I think it’s a male concept of beauty. Women are motivated to wear them as there is a norm that women in high heels are more attractive and high heels become a representative of sexuality. It is a simple thing in a world with people who judge a person by outward appearance and also there is an opinion that high heels were created to slow down women as most of the designers are males.“Christian Louboutin said that heels slow a woman down, giving the man  more time to look at her”. If you search  Google for business women, you can see that most of them wear high heels. For men, they can walk freely without any difficulties. Even it costs so much that high heels are costly than flat shoes and also most of the women take taxis as it is difficult to walk or use public transport wearing high heels, wasting money. I think clothing should not be restricted to one gender, making it a signifier. There is a Bollywood hit; a song “high heels te nachche” and the actor, Arjun Kapoor dance wearing high heels. I saw at the comment section somebody commented, “It must’ve been so hard for Arjun wearing the high heels” So, if it is hard to wear by men why not by women. Anyone can wear anything if they really like it not because someone forces to wear. https://youtube.com/watch?v=bQtT-Tv_tZ4&feature=share  Here’s link you can watch that three boys dances really beautiful wearing high heels in Britain’s got talent show. They wear them as they love to wear high heels without thinking what people will think of them.

On the other hand, there are some women who like to wear them.  Some women are passionate about wearing them. It’s totally okay that it’s their own preference. They think high heels give more power to them. They feel like professional and more independent.  You can see the women on magazine covers, red carpet, courtrooms, award shows wear high heels. Indeed they add the glamour and many feminists like to wear them. No one should judge anyone through their outward appearance. It’s not the dresses or shoes that decides the character or pave the way for exploits, rapes, oppresses women but the insane minds of people.

At present, many women reduce the use of high heels as they cause health issues. Long term use of high heels can affect the knees, hips, lower back and Achilles tendon because high heels change the users walking patter. Many women suffer due to pain in hips and lower back. The only way to solve the problem is reducing the use but how can women reduce it if it’s mandatory to wear them for workplace and society expect it from women? Don't think what people will think of you.If you really love and feel comfortable with flat shoes, wear them and if you love to wear high heels if you think it adds glamour, wear high heels but not because society forces to do so. 

what do you think of high heels? Leave a comment sharing your ideas.

Small Great Things - Jodi Picoult ⭐⭐⭐⭐☆

 

A legal story focusing on race in America 

"If I cannot do great things, I can do small things in a great way"

-Martin Luther King Jr-  

Small Great Things is a book that weaves around
the life of Ruth; an African American labour
and delivery nurse. She's faced with workplace
discrimination when two white supremacists:
Turk and Brittany Bauer stop her from doing
her job. When their newborn dies within three
days of birth, the grieving parents seek revenge
from Ruth who was with the baby at the time of
death. The parents suing Ruth have much to do
with their own hate and grief rather than any
fault of the nurse. 

The state files a lawsuit charging Ruth of murder
and negligent homicide. A legal case presumes.
Kennedy, a white public defender acts as her
savior figure. Even though the characters are
somewhat stereotypical they allow us to take a
look into the lives of both parties involved in
this matter especially for someone who doesn't
have a first hand experience of racism in
America.

At the trial Ruth was advised not to give
testimony as her case was winning, but
she risked the chance of losing because
ultimately freedom for her was not just staying
out of jail but making her voice heard.
The novel is more than just disheartening cases
of racism; the reader can find a comic relief
in the relationship of Kennedy and her doctor
husband Micah. 

What I personally liked most about Picoult's
writing is that she shows that everyone has a
backstory. Her message is strong when she
implies that everyone behaves the way they do
for a reason. The legal aspect of the book
makes it a thrilling page turner. She also deals
with the issue of how extremists are made of
young minds without a purpose.

However, the book had a rushed ending and
it was also packed with a lot of race related
themes which made the story a bit bleak.
The story shows how both good and bad
have roots most powerful. We are made aware
that emotions like fear, anger, and grief can grow
into indiscriminate prejudice and hatred.
Picoult ultimately shows that redemption is
possible regardless of past mistakes.

MONEY Is Not The Most Important Thing for Success

 

Money is not the most important thing for success

Though MONEY seems to be the No#1 thing to become successful, that’s NOT TRUE. It might convince you for some time but close evaluation indicates something else. Therefore, Money is NOT the most important thing for success. Those who believe that Money is the primary obstacle, give a break. Get out of that illusion. It’s a completely false case against your chance of success.

Yes, it’s absolutely true that Money is one of the important resources among all but it’s not the only reason for not following your dream.

You must have seen or known many who do have enough money to pursue their dreams but they don’t. You must have heard many stories where people got all the resources, including money but they still fail because they could not take it in the right direction. And you also have seen people without any resources get success after success. You must wonder how?

Motivation is more important than Money

When you are motivated, you have the right mindset, you have that drive to follow your dream, create something for yourself that is worth creating, pursue your dream with a vision that when you arrange all the resources, including Money. Now, the scenario is such, you will get all the resources, but what you do not get is MOTIVATION, the DRIVE, the MINDSET. Because all these things are internal, you have to nurture it by yourself and you have to keep it in continuation so that you will be able to achieve whatever you want to achieve.

When you are full of Motivation, you will do whatever it takes to fulfill your dreams. Without that it’s nothing. So do not fool yourself with these excuses. You have much better ways to realize your dreams.

So anything and everything is possible if you set your intention right.

 

                            “They are not selling soap or petrol, but a vision………

                                                      ……….a way of life.”

  

Have you ever wondered about the impact of advertising on your daily life? Advertisements have been constantly bombarding us with messages while making us accept them as a normal part of the reality. Advertising can simply define as the process of building brand awareness about certain products, brands, ideas and services among the consumers. Nowadays this field has become wider with the tremendously competitive economic system. Thus, advertisements are undertaken in various forms such as TV commercials, product placements, billboards, posters and online advertisements. Despite a handful of benefits, advertising is considered to have numerous negative effects on humankind but it has permeated our lives so much to the point that we are not even conscious of it.

         Advertising changes the buying behavior of consumers and contributes to wasteful consumption. It conveys messages of certain products through entertainment. Thus, whatever that is sold is presented in a positive light along with unrealistic expectations. It makes the audience unsatisfied with who they are, and what they have, and it ultimately generates greedy for what they do not have. This background leads the people into a status of identifying themselves with the products they own. Consequently, it directly affects in altering the consumer behavior from desires to needs. Finally advertising which functions as a fountain giving birth to uncontrollable desires wastes our money on stuff that are not really essential for the survival, or in other words, it contributes to wasteful consumption.

              “Advertising; the science of arresting human intelligence long enough to get money from it”

               Moreover, fast food, alcohol and tobacco advertisements can have a long lasting effect on human health. Most of the fast food advertisements promote the misbelief that consuming a specific food or drink makes people happy and success, but being exposed to such advertisements over a long period of time effect peoples’ food preferences and consummation patterns. Eating foods with overdose of fat and sugar give rise to serious health problems like obesity, diabetics, chronic diseases and, cardiovascular disease. With the exceptions of the above fact, advertisements provoking alcohol and tobacco consumption also can have significant repercussions especially on children and teenagers. They often target the vulnerabilities of youth depicting drinkers as laid-back, attractive, successful young people having fun in glamorous social situations, but it ultimately leads to potentially lasting issues like heart disease, lung cancer, kidney failure, and liver damage.

           Sometimes violent and aggressive thoughts are provoked through advertising. Such correlation between media violence and children’s tendencies to fallow them has also proved through numerous researches. Consequently promoting certain products with violent contents makes children likely to engage in aggressive behaviors

       In conclusion, what is understood up to this point is that there is no escape from advertising. Oftentimes we are unconscious about how much we keep on buying things and fallow the contents established through advertisements. You yourself can be the solution for this problem by understanding and helping your kids understand what commercials and advertisings are all about.

 

                                               “Don’t let them fool you”

The Importance of learning foreign languages in today's world!

 In today’s era, multilingualism has become more than just ‘important’. Knowing a foreign language other than your native language has evolved to be extremely beneficial. Whether viewed from the financial or social aspect, being able to communicate in a foreign language helps to make ‘real’ connection with people and provides a better understanding of your language.

Why should you learn a foreign language? Learning a foreign language open up employment opportunities. For businesses, it is essential to develop and sustain a strong footing in the global economy. It is better achievable if they can understand the psychology and the language of their foreign clients. Most companies therefore, look for candidates with foreign language skills. If you are already working, knowing a foreign language may lead to special recognitions or promotions. As an employer, it will help encourage staff performance, improve customer services, and increase revenue for your company.

Apart from the financial gains learning a foreign dialect can offer a unique experience to travellers. People, who love to explore different parts of the world, know about diverse cultures, places, and lifestyle, knowing the local language can offer a life changing experience. You can easily find the places, ask for directions, and even order food. Speaking a language gives you a better understanding of the country’s culture. You can interact with people more freely providing a greater scope of meeting new people, making new friends, more fun, and enjoyment.  

Another reason why you should learn a foreign language is that the knowledge of a foreign language enhances your cognitive and analytical abilities. Learning a foreign language is tough and involves a lot of mental exercise. On the individual level, it improves personality and increases your sense of self-worth. The need of language faculties has increased due to the -growing interest in students to learn foreign languages. People associated with social services need to work with diverse groups from several countries. Ability to speak in a foreign language enables them to communicate and serve people better.

The next important decision is to choose from the number of foreign languages – French, Spanish, German, or Italian- to be learnt. Whether you learn a language for a specific reason or out of interest, learning a foreign language will lead to long-term success. It will open up new avenues before you. The more language you know, the better you can express yourself.

Redefining Femininity and Gender Identity !

 

        Bhoomi Harendran, since the early 2000s, has become an undeniably prominent force towards inclusivity and recognition of the minorities, effortlessly restructuring the ironclad drafts of sexuality and gender identity existing within the country. Bhoomi's story is a vast source of inspiration for many on our island - we may not see them but they survive hidden beneath the threshold of cultural dictum. Despite societies prejudices the fact that you are born in the wrong body doesn't mean you are any less the human being. As Bhoomi rightly states, " You should never compromise your identity to confirm the societal standards and expectations - don't ever lose yourself. "

        The process of gender re-construction is very complicated.  " Before going through the procedure it is mandatory to live the life we want before we transition."  Bhoomi reveals, " If you want to transition into a woman, we have to live the life of a woman and it goes the same if you want to transition into a man." 

        Being an activist,  a media spokesman , a role model and a subcommittee member of human rights, Ms. Bhoomi Harendran works towards the rights of the Sri Lankan transgender community. 

         Thus, she has daringly challenged the traditional notions of femininity, womanhood, identity, and much more. She will continue to inspire countless transgender and queer individuals struggling under an unforgiving society in need of a reformation and acceptance.

 Politics 

Politics is simply the machinery of government within a country, group or an organization. As politics works on a global scale we can identify that based on several aspects. It is not just drew on a government, politicians and political parties.it is a specific set of organized guidelines structured according to the requirements of a countries’ advancement.

Politics does not connected only to those who are in power. It is also connected to their opposite parties, the people around them supporting and those who are trying to gain the same power by coming in to the field of politics are also related to politics. Thus, all these people can be recognized as the elements of politics who have responsibilities in numerous angles on the framework of governing in a country.

Political debates always have many angles. Thus, people must be critical and intelligent at the same time to think and understand the hidden motives of politicians without accepting everything that they are elaborating. Most of the actions in politicians hampers the harmony of the country and degrades the state of politics.

Political field is usually known as a field of corruption. It is mostly because when one party agrees the others disagree with the governing forums. Hence there is always inconsistency within the flow of rules and regulations in every governing context all over the world. In politics nothing happens by chance. Hence, to gain votes, politicians use every arrow in their quiver.  As per the history of politics it is evident that people chase power by losing all their morals and ethical values.

That can be also encountered in the contemporary world in more treacherous aspects. Dirty politics can be seen all over the world in different capacities where politicians tend to live lavish lifestyles using civilians’ money by using their political powers. Those who rule their parties in a hectic manner ignores the development of a nation but only focuses on accumulating power to advance their lives more luxurious .

The need of educated politicians for a country is a necessity in today’s world rather than having uneducated ones as peoples’ representatives who know nothing but to suppress others. As same as politicians people also should have a correct sense of politics to understand the selfish motives of politicians , corruption within the field of politics and the way of living by not being the slaves of politics.

 If you don't fight for your dreams, who will?

Born and bred in the Sri Lankan culture, competitive education is part and parcel in every students’ life. As the saying goes, the frog in the well should come out from the lid of the well itself, every student put their tireless efforts in facing and succeeding the G.C.E examinations to climb up the social ladder. For some, the exams are a challenge, for some it’s a pathway that expose them to new avenues and career opportunities. Nevertheless, my story with facing this challenge was super challenging too. 

After 13 years of schooling, finally, it was the moment that I had to face my A/L examination. I was getting ready to the examination during the last few days with a bag full of expectations and hopes for the future. My parents had toiled immensely day and night to bring me up to the place where I was and to provide me with all the necessities to carry out my academic work. Yet,

it was a matter of time that I was infected with dengue fever just three days before the examination.

I felt as if the world had stopped for a moment and I was speechless when I received the medical reports. Then I was admitted to the hospital. My parents and my teachers were very worried about my condition and they were somehow able to change the examination center for a close by place from the hospital so that I wouldn’t miss the exam and as it was my request to them as well. 

Life had already pinned me down once now. So I thought that even with this pain I will somehow get the exam done while the medical treatments are going on. Unfortunately, I was further doomed and my situation got bad to worse when my blood count dropped down to 23,000 platelets and I got dengue rheumatic  night before the exam. All I could do during the exam commencing day was to lie down almost unconscious in the sick bed and stare at the empty ceiling. For a minute I thought it was all over, I thought  that’s it and it’s time for me to say good bye to everyone and leave this life as my situation wasn’t getting any better but severe. 

The doctors and the nursing staff worked so tirelessly and after few days I started recovering and I was able to be discharged from the hospital. When I got home and thought of the examination, I knew that I had lost the boat. I was clueless not knowing what to do.

I felt as if I was left in the middle of a desert and no beacon of hope to be seen. Few months passed thinking about an uncertain and a desperate future.

My parents and teachers spoke to me after sometime and inquired me if I would try to do the exam again and just try and give it a shot. I knew that I didn’t have the enthusiasm as in the first time and neither did I have a choice. So I started working again and tried to get back on the track. It was extremely hard in the beginning to concentrate and to put my heart and soul into studying. 

Then I thought to myself,

“Life has already flattened me to the utmost ground and stolen away a whole year of my time, I’m not going to be a victim of my own devastated dynasty. I’m going to rise up again and challenge life instead of being in trauma.”

Then I gathered up all my courage and strength in me.  I thought that I have already gone through a hell a lot of suffering and I’m stronger than I think.

If I’m not gonna fight for my success who will? 

After attempting the examination for the first time a year after, I was overwhelmed with joy when I got my results. I had done greatly in the examination and I got selected to the university after all. Turning back at the past, now I feel extremely proud of myself for taking such a brave decision to start again and challenge back life when it tried to desert me in the wilderness of my own negative thoughts. There will always be ups and downs as we go along in life. There will be moments when we feel like giving up everything when problems come into our lives. Yet, that is the very moment we need to stand firm and keep a step forwards gathering all our energy and potentials to face the future. 

 

Communism is an illusion

We all know that the theory of communism developed by Karl Marx during the mid 19th century is the antagonist of Capitalism.

The theory of communism is a social organization where each individual in the society is equally benefited and the wealth is equally devised among the population. In contrast to that, capitalism is an economic system that is also known as individualism based on the private ownership of property. 

 

The first thing that we need to take into consideration is that communism was born because of excessive capitalism, but why are these theories opposing each other when we humans ourselves have created it?

Certainly, capitalism has negative consequences, such as poverty and social imbalance. Yet at present, the world evolves with it and it is not treated as something created by humans, it has now become the norm, it has now become the social system. For example, this artificial man-made norm emphasizes the distinction between thin and fat, rich and poor. We all try to be thin and rich by unconsciously becoming a slave of the norms that society has created. Where ever we go, whatever we see, whatever we hear, whatever we consume, and whatever we learn are all composed of capitalism. As a result, this capitalistic mindset of human has affected the attitude and personality to be selfish and egoistic by continuously trying to own property and valuables that has now become natural to the living. Each newborn is taught to be the best in society and be successful as we continuously run the race to be wealthy, but we do not try to be fat and poor. We do not try to share our property because it would make us poor and drag us into poverty. Why? Because being fat and poor is considered abnormal since society doesn't accept it and such people are being discriminated.

Even though society speaks against capitalism, those who fight against it aren't really practicing communism. Also, it is well aware that capitalism cannot be ceased for the hegemony it holds. Even if one attempts to do so, one creates an inevitable powerful enemy because capitalists would never let a communist prevail or win by any chance.

So, how can the world cease capitalism? 

This is something to ponder... 

 

According to my opinion, communism has no power to stand against capitalism in this world. While at the same time, to live in this world it is essential to be a capitalist unless none will be able to survive. 

 

Therefore, do you think that this world will ever be a follower of communism or is it just an illusion?

 

 When we judge, We are judged?

When you are asked what is the most used mobile application in your mobile phone last week, what will be your answer? If it is not a social media application, it is unbelievable. In this situation, social media has become a platform, wherein people judge others virtually in different criteria. So far we may have read many articles which indicate how we are affected by this social media. Nevertheless, have you ever read an article which indicate how others and the image of our representative country are affected by what we have done on social media?

It is obvious that social media is utilized in diverse intentions, such as providing sarcasm, trolling, marketing, gossiping and a bit of giving knowledge also. In Sri Lankan social media context, sarcasm and trolling are the main intentions. It is fine that these are considered as mind – relaxing activities for a set of people.  However, are we using these trolling and sarcasm in an accurate way? Considering the most recent incident on the Facebook account of “Angela Hutti”, an American meteorologist working for Fox 2 News, most of Sri Lankan Facebook users started to comment on her Facebook posts, imitating her name as a bad word in Sinhala. In the genuine sense, Sri Lankan Facebook users had not had any work other than commenting on her posts. It had become such viral that, Facebook users in Sri Lankan region were banned visiting her Facebook account. What a shame. Isn’t it?

Did we ever think about how she feels when such a shameful Sri Lankan word is imitated not only to her name, but also her child’s name? It is fine if that Sri Lankan word comes to our mind when we read that name. Nevertheless, is it necessary to comment that word on her posts showing how Sri Lankans mind set is working? At the end of the day, the image of Sri Lanka was not badly but completely collapsed by set of comments on a social media account of an American. The joke is that we are still blaming politicians about not being a developed state for 70 years. How can we expect a development more than this with this discipline?  We all should be happy about surviving this country to this extent with this kind of discipline level.

A wise man once said “correct your own mistakes, before blaming others”. So, correct your own mistakes, thoughts and the way you behave in social media before blaming politicians for each and everything. The more you judge others, the more you are judged. The more you are judged individually, the whole country is judged.       

   

It should not HURT to be a CHILD

As reports of child sexual abuse or else sexual harassment is always featured in most of the newsfeeds from across the country with regular and horrifying frequency, it is evident that Sri Lanka is facing a nationwide crisis of child abuse/ harassment. According to what we hear and see it is evident that there is no reduction instead there is a drastic increase in the number of cases reported. One cannot imagine how many more go unreported. Amidst all these, Laws are in place and departments and ministries are established to protect Sri Lankan children. Then, why have we failed to protect our children?

    NCPA: The National Child Protection Authority is the main authority responsible for child protection in the country. Many reports reveals that the increase of child abuse cases in Sri Lanka is the result of numerous failures on the part of the National Child Protection Authority. Delaying in formulating a national policy, no progress in maintaining or preparing a national database on child abuse, complains and cases remains unresolved-stuck with no progress, are some of the areas that should be concerned in order to establish a secure country for your child to live peacefully. 

  

 We live in a country where a child should be afraid of their own parents more than of outsiders. Sri Lanka is engrossed in an enigmatic Pandemic of child abuse or harassment. As adults who no longer have the ability to go back and enjoy life we tend to redundantly express how delightful we would be 'if we could go back to our childhood and experience the joy, freedom and good memories' but can we expect the present child who is sexually abused by his/her own mother or father, to be happily nostalgic of their past?

    Very recently we heard how a mother of a 9 year old child allegedly believed her daughter had been possessed by a demon and had taken her to the home of an exorcist, where the  exorcist, an unidentified woman, repeatedly hit her with a cane, claiming it was a way to drive out a demon that had possessed the child, thus the 9 year old child had collapsed after the beating. Imagine a mother allowing a woman to beat her own child! From this incident child abuse/sexual harassment in Sri Lanka has been taken to another crucial level, thus nowadays children should be protected from not only outsiders but from their very own parents. After-all, whom should the child trust, from whom should the child expect shelter, protection, love and care?

  

     The real pandemic is yet to be initiated, the pandemic where your child will be a victim of this hellish world where , parents who are believed to be the guardian angels protecting their children, themselves tend to kill their own blood- children can no longer trust their parents. In order to combat child abuse and sexual harassment in Sri Lanka, we have to stand against child abuse and harassment, thus peer pressure has been shown as to be one of the most effective ways to achieve social change. The government has an obligation to increase legal accountability, but society must also play a role in addressing the problem. All men and women are not predators who are waiting for their pray. It is therefore other Sri Lankan citizens –- the majority of whom are not predators  –- who have a great deal of power to combat the problem. we must consistently make it clear to our associates that child abuse and harassment is not normal, not respectable and not acceptable and we should be attentive in order to combat such discrepancies in the society and to safeguard the innocent smiles of the country.

Do you think that every child should have  have the right to protection? Should they have the right to survive, to be safe, to belong, to be heard, to receive adequate care and to grow up in a protective environment?

From passion to profession!

Someone has rightly said, 'to be successful you need to find your passion and follow it' and rest everything is in between.

Follow Your Passion

What is Passion- It is something that does not let you sleep at night. It is something that makes you want to do something different. The uncontrolled feeling of doing something and not being satisfied with it. An emotion that can overpower all other emotions. Passion could be anything and can be discovered at any age. Unlike Government jobs, Passion does not have an expiry date. But what is most important is that you need to identify passion and find ways to keep it alive.

 

Passion should not be confused with interest, liking, hobby or a temporary phase. Where as you might be interested in something for sometime, passion is forever and does not change with season or reason. I have heard many people who say 'I am passionate about sports and I love Football' and when they are asked how often they play or who is their favorite football player or which club they support, they do not have a clear answer. So this shows that they like watching football but to say that they are passionate about football is not justified. Had that been the case they would 'eat sleep and drink football'. (not literally but you get the point). 

 A lot of people are able to identify their passion but are not able to follow it for long. They might be crazy or enthusiastic for a while but then with busy lives and personal and professional commitments they loose the zeal. Passion is something you always need to find time for rather excuses. I remember I was in class X and all I wanted to do was learn how to play synthesizer. So my parents bought me a basic Casio Model and I along with one of my friend started going to a music teacher during our two month long summer break. When I started playing the instrument it gave me immense joy, and the feeling that I am creating something excited me. I played consistently, the songs that were taught and the ones that I learnt on my own. I discovered my passion when I was 16 years old and 15 years later, I am still playing. However now with a busy family and office life, I don't get much free time. But an hour everyday is reserved for my music and I follow it. Sometimes I cant carry my synthesizer so I have perfect piano app from Google Play Store installed in my phone and tablet, so where ever I go, I can play. When I am stuck in a long traffic jam, I use my tablet to make tunes. The chords and the sound coming out of it soothes me and makes my mind relax. Passion can be followed anywhere and anytime if you really want to pursue it.

 Some people are really lucky. They find their passion and realize that this is everything they ever wanted to do and turn it into a profession. There is nothing like working for your passion. So don't keep thinking that one day you will find time for this. Now is the moment and now is the perfect time to start. Don't let your passion take a back seat. Because when you are 70 years old, you wont remember who your boss was, but you will surely remember the joy you got when you followed your passion. Don't stop till that is the only option left!