{"id":47514,"date":"2015-09-02T22:37:30","date_gmt":"2015-09-03T04:37:30","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/?p=47514"},"modified":"2015-09-02T03:30:27","modified_gmt":"2015-09-02T10:30:27","slug":"cricket-and-crabs-can-they-go-together","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/2015\/09\/02\/cricket-and-crabs-can-they-go-together\/","title":{"rendered":"Cricket and Crabs – Can they go together?"},"content":{"rendered":"

Senaka Weeraratna<\/em><\/span><\/h2>\n

Sport builds strength and character in a person and instills values. A sports personality has a responsibility towards society to do good by setting an example. Sports is about two rivals battling it out to see who is better. It is not about a person of strength attacking a defenseless being. That’s not sportsmanship. That’s Bullying and Cowardice. Yet people don’t seem to think there is anything wrong in throwing an innocent being such as a live crab into a cauldron of boiling water. We cringe when even a drop of hot water spills on us yet we don’t seem to have any qualms about doing that to a defenseless crab.<\/p>\n

All living beings feel pain and we all know it even if we don’t want to accept it. Where is our compassion? Why has someone not protested or taken action against the perpetrators of cruelty to animals? Or are famous sports icons exempt from the law? The Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Ordinance, No. 13 of 1907, though outdated, does still exist to enforce the law against cruelty to animals.<\/p>\n

Does not the abusive treatment of these crabs infringe on their most fundamental right – the right to life ? Why is the law silent? Why has the police not taken any action and why is society not standing up in protest at this injustice? Are elephants the only animals entitled to our compassion and concern, while leaving out the rest of the non – human living beings constantly subject to man’s inhumanity, from any moral attention on our part? What sort of double standard is that?<\/p>\n

Do we stand by and let this happen? The Buddha has pointed out that Samma Ajiva or right livelihood is a foundation of an ideal society. Right livelihood means the choosing of the right vocation which would cause no harm to other sentient beings or the ethical principle of non-exploitation. Today by remaining silent we tacitly condone the killing of innocent beings in a cruel manner, largely because it doesn’t affect us. How many lives must be lost before someone confronts our sports “heroes” and challenge them for an explanation of their ‘ethical’ principles and ignoble ways of earning money? Is this the example to be set for the future generations? Can sportspeople lacking genuine compassion for others including animals be treated as role models for the young? Is an ethical virtuous life no longer relevant for our society and particularly for sportsmen and sportswomen?<\/p>\n

‘ Virtue starts with non – killing’ said Buddhaghosa.<\/p>\n

It is time that we reflect on this important statement.<\/p>\n

Dharma Voices for Animals Sri Lanka Chapter<\/a>
\nhttps:\/\/www.facebook.com\/dharmavoicesforanimalssrilanka?fref=nf<\/a><\/p>\n

see also
\nhttp:\/\/nation.lk\/online\/2015\/08\/29\/a-little-advice-to-our-top-national-cricketers\/<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Senaka Weeraratna Sport builds strength and character in a person and instills values. A sports personality has a responsibility towards society to do good by setting an example. Sports is about two rivals battling it out to see who is better. It is not about a person of strength attacking a defenseless being. That’s not […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[12],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-47514","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-forum"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/47514","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=47514"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/47514\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=47514"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=47514"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=47514"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}