Sri Lanka has a history of 61 years after independence, and for 26 of them we've been involved in a brutal war; fighting against one man's dream to divide this country. Can you imagine the damage that has been made to the morale of the people of this country?

It is said that we were the strongest economy in Asia, back in 1948 when we gained independence from the British. We were strategically located in the Indian Ocean, where we would have a huge advantage compared to the other countries in the region. No regular earthquakes, or flash floods to destroy everything in a moment. Trincomalee was the second most developed city in the country, and it was developing faster than Colombo. Jaffna was better than Kandy or Galle, to live in. But today, what do we have to live with?

The stolen 26 years of our history has done much damage to the morale of our people. Sri Lankans don't trust this country anymore. I've heard many people say 'This is not the place to live", "We can't do any better!", "This is a hell!"

Our media and politicians (when they are in opposition) cultivated this type of pessimism, negativity within the psyche of our people. The picture painted in the mind of our younger generation, born after 1985 is : This is a poor country, and we can't do anything about it.

Now that these young generation with the tools to express their ideas freely, they keep on passing the ball to the next generation with thoughts of negativity and pessimism. Even after the war is over; those forces who acted like "guardian angels of peace" are still cultivating them among our people.

When can we get out of this parasite mentality, and give life to a stronger nation? If you are a blogger; just think about this. What percentage of your blog posts you are using to cultivate positive and optimistic thoughts among the people? If you haven't, isn't this the right time for you to use your writing ability to do something for your motherland?

We have managed to end an war which most people believed that never would end any sooner. Now let's stop accounting for the "profit & loss" of the war, and focus our energy towards the future.

It's true that the Sinhalese politicians created Prabhakaran, the leader of the separatist Tamil Tigers, and that power hungry Tamil politicians also had a role to play.

It is true that July 1983 was an ugly mark in our history that saw Sinhalese retaliating and killing thousands of Tamils. I agree that Tamil people were strongly appalled when re-thinking about those days. But don't you all think that you have taken enough revenge by killing thousands of Sinhalese in Prabhakaran's war of "liberation"? Is this the time for you to retrospect the past and keep on renewing old wounds?

Now we don't have a barrier in between us. We don't have to look at you as "potential suicide bomber" anymore. But are you ready to SPEAK UP and say, "Let's join hands to rebuild this country"?

Let's put a full stop to all this negativity, pessimism, distrust and cynicism. Let's stop blaming the politicians (whom we elected ourselves) and question ourselves: What have I done to make things better?

Let's stop all this insane, and do something. At least let's make our next generation a one which is optimistic about the true potential of this country.

Stop ridiculing your own country! Stop cultivating negativity among our people. I urge you. All of you.

You won't gain anything by ridiculing your own country for the sake of political advantage or for financial benefits.

We had to go through that 26 years long war; because some people in the past did that same mistake. Would you do it again for your country?

Kill negativity. Let go the past. Unite for a better tomorrow.

 

Voice in Colombo blogs at A Voice in Colombo.