{"id":88592,"date":"2019-05-11T15:30:10","date_gmt":"2019-05-11T22:30:10","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/?p=88592"},"modified":"2019-05-11T15:30:10","modified_gmt":"2019-05-11T22:30:10","slug":"easter-sunday","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/2019\/05\/11\/easter-sunday\/","title":{"rendered":"Easter Sunday"},"content":{"rendered":"

Laksiri Warnakula<\/em><\/span><\/h2>\n\n\n

Our\nsacred landscape of religious and ethnic harmony<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The\nrecent tragic event on the \u2018Easter Sunday\u2019 saw a cataclysmic outpouring of\nanger, condemnation and criticism, expressed mainly in newspapers and other\nsocial media sites.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

While\nfew resorted to a more subdued response and a somewhat in-depth analysis, the\nmajority\u2019s anger and anguish was\/is evident. The intervention of the Cardinal\nand his sombre advice to the Catholics in particular, to remain calm played a\nhuge role in preventing a backlash of no small magnitude. He addressed all,\nboth the perpetrators or whoever was\/is behind it and also the suffered, in the\nsame tone, though burdened and laden with sadness, yet still imbued with love,\npatience and peace.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It was\nalso good to see that in spite of the water being terribly muddy and murky and\nfishing in it could have produced a big catch of sorts to a few of them, almost\nnone ventured out too far into the torrents for fear of drowning, dragged down\nby undercurrents and whirlpools of uncertainty and unpredictability. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

And\nthe inaction of some them that most certainly proved fatal to some nearly three\nhundred innocent people, may have discouraged them even more in pursuing that\nfamiliar to most of us their hobby or pet game, namely the blame games, even\nthough they kicked off to a good start and began to be played on various venues\nalongside equally varying menus just as the dust seemed to begin to settle.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Now\nwhat? Where and how do we begin the process of repairing and treating the\nwounds caused by anger, despair, destruction and distrust? Mere temporary band\naids and bandages wouldn\u2019t and cannot do much here. So much so has happened and\nso fast too that it won\u2019t be an easy task to design and put in\nto practice those re-conciliatory mechanisms and carry out\npossible reconstruction without delay, all aimed at achieving an absolute\ncertainty that incidents of this nature so tragic and devastating would not\nhappen, ever again on Sri Lankan soil.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The\nexercise, programs and projects need the whole-hearted participation\nof all concerned representing all ethnicities, political parties, clergy\nrepresenting all faiths, academics and professionals from fields far and wide\nas possible, who wish to have  peaceful bright blue skies above a\nbeautiful Sri Lanka, always.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2018Trying\nto gain political advantage and mileage\u2019 in situations such as these at the\nexpense of the country\u2019s welfare and well-being must be treated as\nhigh treason and no less. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Think\nabout our present and future children, if not anything else.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Three\ndecades of mayhem and terror left that once serene landscape terribly scarred\nand scathed. The next ten years were relative peace and the country was just\nreturning to its former glory, of even getting declared as one of the best\ntourist destinations in the world. Then the unthinkable happened. All that\npeace, which was gained and won at great sacrifice of the nation\u2019s sons and\ndaughters, shattered in seconds amidst explosions and screams.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Now\nthe moment has come, for all Sri Lankans to get together and build those fallen\nbridges; bridges of love, tolerance and understanding. Bridges that are going\nto stand firm, unbreakable and unsinkable even in the face of the most\nformidable, the hostile and the ferocious enemies of our nation.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

We\nshouldn\u2019t allow anyone, big or small, from within and without to strip our\nonce-used to be beautiful and sacred landscape, of religious and ethnic harmony\nand its diverse beauty found in appreciation and mutual respect amongst its\ninhabitants.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Laksiri\nWarnakula<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Laksiri Warnakula Our sacred landscape of religious and ethnic harmony The recent tragic event on the \u2018Easter Sunday\u2019 saw a cataclysmic outpouring of anger, condemnation and criticism, expressed mainly in newspapers and other social media sites. While few resorted to a more subdued response and a somewhat in-depth analysis, the majority\u2019s anger and anguish was\/is […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":true,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[12],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-88592","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-forum"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/88592","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=88592"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/88592\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=88592"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=88592"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=88592"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}