A country by the people, of the people, for the people

I found the following poem on my newsfeed on facebook.

Dear Sri Lankan,

NAVINDRA FERNANDO·THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 8, 2018

When did ‘she’ become so humiliating to you?

this land that nurtured you?

that you must mock her flag or adulterate her anthem?

to laugh at her plight or ignore her loss?

Have her sandy shores ever ceased to amaze you?

have not her hills the tall mountains never left you mesmerized?

A nation needs leaders, who act justly and protect it

our leaders may have failed us

but she has not

Her fertile soil still bear crop

her waters still quench our thirst

her beauty still bring us joy

She is being pushed to breaking point

yet

she strives to survive

Believe

that amidst those who try to rip her apart

there are those who still bring her pride

those whose actions still feed the hungry

educate her young and heal her sick

for no cost at all

Those gone before us and many beside us

still bring her glory

Honour to her name

Ally with them

By all means unite to undo the wrong

that has now engulfed her

To bring back law and order

Unite to end corruption and violence within her

poverty and pollution which destroy her

to restore her worth

Still think twice before you choose

which path you take

For her sons and daughters may have failed her yet she never failed them

She only loved and loved and loved..

So never forget to be kind to her

in her chaos to be true to her

to pray for her

to cherish her

for she will always be ‘the Pearl of the Indian Ocean’

nothing else but

real treasure.

It was written following the coup d’état in Sri Lanka that was initiated by President Maithreepala Sirisena on the 26^th of October 2018. President Sirisena stripped Ranil Wickremasinghe of his post as the Prime Minister of the country and appointed Mahinda Rajapakse, former president, in his place. Following this, many Ministers of Parliament changed their political party. The context in which this poem was written is one where a facebook user posted an image of the flag of Sri Lanka in which the lion was replaced by a frog. This was meant to represent the Ministers who changed parties following the coup d’état.   

This poem, written on the 8^th of November, promotes the idea that though the Ministers of Parliament and the President have been a disappointment to the people of the country, the beauty of the land has never faded. In this article, I shall argue that a country is not just its scenic beauty but the minds and behavior of the people living in it. I shall explain why I am not proud to be identified as a Sri Lankan. Following is my reaction to the post:

A land is a land. But a country is something more than that. A country is the people who live in that country. A country is not just beaches and mountains and grass as the poet here suggests here,

“Have her sandy shores ever ceased to amaze you?

have not her hills the tall mountains never left you mesmerized?”

and

“Her fertile soil still bear crop

her waters still quench our thirst”

A country is not just these things. Actually, in my opinion, even this scenic beauty of the country, is adulterated by the people of this country, which is a reflection of the hearts and minds of the people in it. A country is all the hearts and brains and consciences of people who live in it.

            The poet also writes about the disappointment that the leaders of the country have brought upon the people in it,

“A nation needs leaders, who act justly and protect it

our leaders may have failed us

but she has not”

Here, I would like to bring to the poet’s notice the fact that the Parliamentarians of the country are a cross-section of the people in it. They are representatives who have been sent to parliament through elections. None of them forced their way into the parliament, just as MP Anura Kumara Dissanayake said at a media conference. One could say that they are a compact picture of the people of the country. The behavior of the leaders of the country is thus a representation of that of the people in it. ‘Every nation gets the government it deserves’ as the French philosopher, Joseph de Maistre stated.

            The poem has a section where the poet demands of the reader since when the country ceased to be their pride,

“When did ‘she’ become so humiliating to you?

this land that nurtured you?”

It is not true that it was the ‘land’ that nurtured the people. The land is an inanimate object. It is not the scenery of the land that nurtured its people. It is the adults, the family, that brings up a child, that nurtures it. Therefore, when I say that I am not proud to be a Sri Lankan I mean that I am not proud to be identified with the rest of the people living in this country. I shall explain.

“there are those who still bring her pride

those whose actions still feed the hungry

educate her young and heal her sick”

I agree with the poet in this respect. A country is made of good and bad. But, it has a lot to do with the percentage of relatively good people in it. You might say that other countries have bad people too. But what matters is the percentage of them. I have met only a handful of good people in this country.

Most of the people here are selfish: look at the way they pollute public places with plastic, polythene, waste. 

Most of the people here are jealous: count the number of people who are not given promotions in their jobs because others slander them. I personally know many who work hard but are jealously not rewarded. Most of the people here are racist: look at how politicians make use of this to get more votes, like Prime Minister Bandaranaike made Sinhala the only official language of Sri Lanka to get the votes of the Sinhala majority in the country. Most of the people here are homophobes: look at the way people look at others who are neither male nor female, the way these people are laughed at. Even homosexuality is a crime in this country. Homosexual conduct between two or more consenting adults is illegal. Even President Sirisena himself implied that the Prime Minister and his supporters were homosexual, in his comment where he compared them to a group of butterflies and Sirisena’s supporters, including Ragapakse, applauded this comment. Most people here are sexist: look at the way a girl or woman cannot walk on a street without being catcalled. So, tell me: are we good people? Wrong question. Are MOST of us good people? Yes, there are good people among us, but only a handful.

The writer claims that though the people in the country have adulterated the country- politicians and the people who replaced the lion in the national flag, with a frog- the country has done no wrong to the people.

“For her sons and daughters may have failed her yet she never failed them

She only loved and loved and loved.”

I would bring to the notice of the poet that a land cannot possibly do wrong to anyone. A land is an inanimate object that simply exists. It is the people of the country who do wrong to each other, who hurt each other. Again, I say that not all people are like this; but the majority of the people are as I have explained above. This is a reflection of what the country is.

My dream country is one where there is little or no pollution. Where people are not laughed at or judged for being themselves. Where people don’t hold grudges against each other. So, remember: a country is not simply its beaches or mountains and its scenic beauty (even there, Sri Lankans pollute this country). A country is what the people in it make it. It’s all to do with the love of the people who live in it. I am not a proud Sri Lankan. I am not ashamed of not being a proud Sri Lankan.

-Nati

Photo credits : Google Images