This is Our Country, Our Home, Our Motherland.....
The pearl of the Indian Ocean, the paradise island. But now, when you Google ‘Sri Lanka’ the first thing you see is a Red tag saying “SOS Alert - Sri Lankan Explosions.” Four days ago this was the perfect little island but three days ago it turned in to a war zone. This is how YOU define my motherland.
Yes, we were attacked on Easter Sunday. Yes, the death toll at the moment I am writing this is at 253. Yes, we are under curfew and many more bombs were found and defused. But how can you define a country when they are suffering from a terrorist attack? How can BBC interview a person who supports racism and spread his racist thoughts of a country on their network? How come the little girls on Instagram, who have never stepped into my country, define my motherland as a violent country who murdered the LTTE when they never even saw how we as a country suffered decades because of terrorism?
No, you can’t define my country when you know nothing about it. So let me tell you a few things about my country.
My country is a 3rd world country which tries it’s best to develop to the standards of the leading world. But it is also a country where people pray saying “Father, forgive them for they know not what they do” even after terrorists killed 253 people. It’s a country who apologized to the entire world because we couldn’t protect the foreigners we had from their countries. It’s a country where we have people like Ramesh ( from Zion Church - Batticaloa) who stopped the suicide bomber from getting inside the church, sacrificing his life to save multitudes of people who could have died from it. It is our policemen who sacrificed their lives in order to save everyone else. This is the country where thousands of people gathered at Blood Banks around the country to donate blood within a few hours, only because of a small notice The National Blood Bank posted on their Facebook about blood shortage for victims. If my country is racist people wouldn’t gather to give their blood to people from other religions and other casts. And also this is a country where mothers volunteered to Breastfeed children who lost their parents due to the bomb attack. A country with people who collect donations themselves to everyone who is affected, to the mass funeral ceremonies and also people who make sure the Tri-force and Policemen get all the food and water as well while they are on duty, trying to protect us. A country where Buddhists say they don’t need wesak celebrations instead they will help to rebuild churches, where Muslims say their Mosques are open for Christians & Catholics to pray, Where Hindus organize and go all the way to distribute donations, Where soldiers make sure we get to sleep without fear at night and protect us risking their lives.
Define my country from those things because (recent extract from a fellow Sri Lankan) You can take our hotels but you can’t take our hospitality, you can take our churches but you can’t take our faith in God, you can take our people but you can’t take our humanity. We maybe a 3rd world country but from our heart, we are far ahead of you. Because here we are not defined from our religions or cast, we are defined as One Country; One Nation.
Today we cry together but tomorrow we will rise up together and we will do it a thousand times over. Because we are SRI LANKANS and this is OUR COUNTRY, OUR HOME, OUR MOTHERLAND.
- A Fellow Sri Lankan (copied)
The pearl of the Indian Ocean, the paradise island. But now, when you Google ‘Sri Lanka’ the first thing you see is a Red tag saying “SOS Alert - Sri Lankan Explosions.” Four days ago this was the perfect little island but three days ago it turned in to a war zone. This is how YOU define my motherland.
Yes, we were attacked on Easter Sunday. Yes, the death toll at the moment I am writing this is at 253. Yes, we are under curfew and many more bombs were found and defused. But how can you define a country when they are suffering from a terrorist attack? How can BBC interview a person who supports racism and spread his racist thoughts of a country on their network? How come the little girls on Instagram, who have never stepped into my country, define my motherland as a violent country who murdered the LTTE when they never even saw how we as a country suffered decades because of terrorism?
No, you can’t define my country when you know nothing about it. So let me tell you a few things about my country.
My country is a 3rd world country which tries it’s best to develop to the standards of the leading world. But it is also a country where people pray saying “Father, forgive them for they know not what they do” even after terrorists killed 253 people. It’s a country who apologized to the entire world because we couldn’t protect the foreigners we had from their countries. It’s a country where we have people like Ramesh ( from Zion Church - Batticaloa) who stopped the suicide bomber from getting inside the church, sacrificing his life to save multitudes of people who could have died from it. It is our policemen who sacrificed their lives in order to save everyone else. This is the country where thousands of people gathered at Blood Banks around the country to donate blood within a few hours, only because of a small notice The National Blood Bank posted on their Facebook about blood shortage for victims. If my country is racist people wouldn’t gather to give their blood to people from other religions and other casts. And also this is a country where mothers volunteered to Breastfeed children who lost their parents due to the bomb attack. A country with people who collect donations themselves to everyone who is affected, to the mass funeral ceremonies and also people who make sure the Tri-force and Policemen get all the food and water as well while they are on duty, trying to protect us. A country where Buddhists say they don’t need wesak celebrations instead they will help to rebuild churches, where Muslims say their Mosques are open for Christians & Catholics to pray, Where Hindus organize and go all the way to distribute donations, Where soldiers make sure we get to sleep without fear at night and protect us risking their lives.
Define my country from those things because (recent extract from a fellow Sri Lankan) You can take our hotels but you can’t take our hospitality, you can take our churches but you can’t take our faith in God, you can take our people but you can’t take our humanity. We maybe a 3rd world country but from our heart, we are far ahead of you. Because here we are not defined from our religions or cast, we are defined as One Country; One Nation.
Today we cry together but tomorrow we will rise up together and we will do it a thousand times over. Because we are SRI LANKANS and this is OUR COUNTRY, OUR HOME, OUR MOTHERLAND.
- A Fellow Sri Lankan (copied)
