These are decisions we have all made by either choosing to do nothing or otherwise.

Lessons may be learned now or learned at a later stage. Again, these decisions are ours to make now, and I am extremely heartened by responses such as Cuckoo’s. This is a truly magnificent response that will at the very least start some healthy debate and provide a line in the sand from which we can all move forward if we so choose to do so.

Nothing of any real worth is ever gained through violence and or hatred and resentment. Any such gains are only very temporary at best. History has shown this and deep down, we all know this.

What we need to understand and focus on is that we all live on the one planet. This planet has more than sufficient resources to cover the basic needs of all its inhabitants if only we learnt to share. If only we recognise that all people are one and bring richness and diversity to life through their ethnicities and cultures. What one person experiences, we all do. We no longer live in isolation.

Some of us understand this, while others are beginning to and the momentum is now shifting. Let’s make this world ( and not just Sri Lanka) a place where we can all live in peace and with love for our fellow inhabitants.

Don’t wait for others to show the way. This is the time for each one of us to make an impact by the way we interact, the way we think, the way we conduct ourselves and the way we live. It is time to show this through simply being so.

One could argue that we may not have come to this point of view at this moment in time, had not the events of the past occurred to act as a catalyst. As such, let’s not waste what has happened, let’s learn from it and actively move on.

The choices are there to be made… which choice will you make?
Your choice will determine your future and what you experience. It potentially determines the futures of others. Make it the very best one you can, knowing that this is just the next step in this amazing journey of life.

Let the past serve only to remind us of what not to do! It is over and nothing else of true value can be gained by dwelling in it! The future is ours to create and we only have now to do it in.

The class division analysis is looks impressive. I think class divisions should be based on ecconomy level. Upper class- lead and direct. Lower class act (either as a tiger carder or SLA fighter). Middle class slide as and when they want. I do not beleive that only Colombo based people share common ideas. If that is true, we could have peace long ago. I was a middle class when I worked in colombo, I did not oppose my sinhala boss’s idea, because my priority was secure job, than tamils political righs.

SWRD Bandaranayaka, who cannot speak few sinhala words made sinhala only rule. This shows, how politicians used an issue to their benifit. 2 sides are there on this issue. Both have their own ecconomical class divisions. G.L. Pieris, Wickramabahu Karunaratna, Nalin De Silva are Colombo based (class 2) people but differ in opinion.

Economic class division exist as it is, and opinion differ based on the information they get and how their livelihood is affected on this issue. A Sinhala businessman in Colombo and Matara will mostly share common opinion as well as a Sinhala fisherman in Colombo and a Sinhala fisherman in Marara will share mostly same opinion. In the same way a tamil businessman in Colombo and a tamil Business man in Jaffna will mostly have common ideas.

People mostly writing here are middle class (as per the related country there are in now). Many of the people try find a middle way to write here because of the headding of this article. I feel, your class 2 or the middle class is not ready to reconcile that easy.

Make English the offical language. Make the teaching of English complusory. Train more teachers to teach English.

Go back 60 years so that the plum positions can be offered to the diaspora Tamils as they were taken by their predecessors before 1956?

4) They are worried that their “refugee” applications might be refused and they would be deported,”

Even Ranil W cannot go to the IDP camps. Hon. Ariya thinks they are freed.

Change flag. No lion. No Sword.

Remove the ‘special place for’ any particular religion. It sends the wrong message that any particlular ethnic group is superior to any other (as we SL people are strongly religiously polarised).

Make English the offical language. Make the teaching of English complusory. Train more teachers to teach English.

Remove, ‘race’ from all govenment forms. Make the concept of ‘race’ illegal in all walks of life. Make ‘Sri Lankan’ the unified term of identity that we all proudly carry.

Educate the people on the arbitary nature of the racial differences. Conduct a government initiated programme on the genetic make up of the people of SL. This will show that, genetically, we are a mixture of the same groups of people who migrated to the subcontinent thousands of years ago, albeit mixed with some European genes in relatively recent times. Scientists can do this accurately now. That the divisions and differences are more to do with language in the regions in which we lived.

With such a plan we might become one nation within one or two generations. Otherwise, we will continue to propagate the prejudices that are handed down from generation to generation, for many many more centuries to come.

My whole family had been in Jaffna by invitation from our Tamil uncles, but I didn’t have the luck to be there as I was abroad studying.

Now, I can visit Jaffna and my Tamil uncles!

Really, I don’t care what happened to Velupillai Prabakaran, the country is unite again!

What GOSL might consider doing is to ask every Sinhala family (since they are the majority) to ‘adopt’ a Tamil family that lives close by. By this I mean that they should befriend them even if they are not in need. They should ‘watch out’ for them rather like a godparent. The Tamil family should reciprocate. By this means each will discover the kindness and compassion to be found in the other. We were born Human long before we ‘became’ Sinhala and Tamil.

I invite all free thinking Tamil diaspora and Sinhala diaspora to unite as Sri Lankan diaspora. This combined diaspora should work with the objective of promoting peace and unity in Sri Lanka.

Tamil diaspora is seen as pro LTTE and Sinhala diaspora is seen as nationalistic.

Well, the noise of the guns and bombs are gone now, hopefully for good. It is now quiet, dead quiet. In fact, it is as quiet as a crematorium. Mayana amaithy, they say in Tamil. In all this dead silence, there is one sound, a distance sound, the constant sound of the IDPs. They are crying for food, water, shelter and freedom.
There is another sound. We also hear the silent sound of the civilians who died in the sandy beaches of Mullaiteevu. They are not crying for water, food, shelter or freedom. They are crying out for justice.

They want to know if there were war crimes committed by the Tigers and by the GOSL. They want justice. Not revenge, only justice.

Should we ignore these sounds? Should we strive for peace when that sound, that continuous noise is still humming in the background?

When they get their answers, when they get justice, then everyone can truly say sorry and mean it. It is only when that happens, there will be silence. Real silence. Then, there will be peace. Real peace.

Until that happens, there will be that sound of wailing and weeping in the background.

JMPillai