Laksiri Warnakula 

The Head of the Catholic Church of Sri Lanka Malcolm Cardinal Ranjiths’ proposal to keep the shops closed that sell the spirits of cheer (supposedly) during Christmas has met with stiff criticism coming from many members of the public

Well on its own, it is always a sensible thing to do: to keep the consumption of spirits down to a possible minimum, even during festivals such as Christmas.  After all, we Sri Lankans are said to be amongst the top that drink their guts out, who cannot be easily out drunk by even the world’s top drinkers, say Russians, for example.

Now there are some customs and habits, be them cultural, religeous, social or other that can become so ingrained in the collective mentality of people, who belong to a particular creed, it is not easy, to ask them to stop it and forget the spirits but still stick to the  cheer. And if the time of the year is also synonymous with a specific custom, where it is practised with gay abandon, even if going past the point of moderation often, it is still not fair by many, who do enjoy a ‘drink’ not because they are alcoholics,  but sticking to a tradition going back for many years. 

So let us try our best, drink moderately in celebration of the ‘Birth of Jesus’, while not forgeting the ‘have nots’, who cannot afford to have a decent meal, let alone a ‘drink’ that you and I the ‘haves’ can afford.

Merry Christmas!

Laksiri Warnakula