Our people never had laws. Instead, we had sirith or customs. Those customs were built over thousands of years of experiment and experience. They balanced the relationship between kings, subjects, birds, beasts, trees, flowers. They arose of the need to create harmony between all things living. Now, we have laws. They are young in years and built for other types of people living in other types of societies. Most of what we call our law is their law. All of it is imported and none of it is important. Our people do not see their relevance to our society. Our people will consider laws as a last resort. Even then, even if all else fails, we may never go to the law for relief. This is because there is a meanness to them. A lie to them. A manipulation in them. A debilitation within them. So we break those laws and feel no regret or guilt because we see how false they are. But we will never break our sirith. To do so is worse than death because if we break them, even in the slightest measure, we tear to pieces, the very fabric of harmonious coexistence and none of us can live after having committed such a heinous crime.
Community discussions are vital because they foster a sense of belonging and provide support, empower individuals by giving them a voice in decision-making, leverage collective wisdom for innovative problem-solving and effective solutions, and build trust and strong relationships between people and organizations. On September 20, our team visited the communities in Illukkumbura, Kahagala, Puwakpitiya, Poththtawela, and Dammanthenna villages in...
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Back in May 2023, I reported on the spike in ocean temperatures and issued our own warning to the people to get ready for a good old climate face-punch/kidney sock/kick to the nether human regions. I doubt that warning had any effect. In Sri Lanka, we try to stop things after those things have stopped hitting us and gone on to...
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Even as I write, the UN’s first water conference in an entire generation is into its first formal session after a day of side events at the UNHQ, NYC, USA. That the water issue is top of the heap of world threatening crises is a given. On one side it is a crisis in itself, on another side it is...
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