This Too Shall Pass

It is now over a month since the 18th Amendment was passed. And I can finally get my head around writing about it without simply saying FUCK a lot.

Isn't that nice?

Personally I am not surprised this happened at all. Sri Lankans in general and the Sinhalese in particular are extremely happy to give over control to someone, anyone. They are the kavum eating surrender monkeys of Asia. Not only are they willing to roll over and give up to anyone who comes in with an attitude, they will attack anyone who stands up and tells them to stop being such wusses.

The Heroes of Sri Lankan Independence are commemorated and fêted for standing up in Parliament and saying We would like independence please, if you don't mind.

This is at a time when the Indians with Mohandas Gandhi were engaging in civil disobedience and satyagraha, and getting beaten, jailed, or killed, Sri Lankans were quite willing to let it all happen. In a world that rewards the active, Sri Lankans are constantly passive. They are not just willing, but also insanely happy to give their freedoms away.

The two people who stood up for their rights in recent times, were brutally killed as the people around them cheered. True, they took a wrong path. True, at the end it was all about power. But, at least they began with the idea of we're not going to take this any more!

There were others too who stood up to The System and demanded their freedoms back. But they were marginalised and ignored - if they were lucky. Some of them weren't. And hoi polloi cheered.

But that is just the start of it. When the Governments were rapidly stripping away the rights of the people. When the Security Theatercheckpoints were being established all over the country no-one said anything, even when they knew there was no tangible benefit from them. When they started checking everyone entering a bus, nothing was said. This is because the Sri Lankan populace knows one thing - This Too Shall Pass.

There's a war on? No matter. He's stealing money? It's ok. They're shutting down the liquor shops? So? No matter what happens, it is not permanent. It'll pass. It'll go away, leaving nothing but a law behind.

When they started checking bags at the entry to bus stations, there was a time when they checked everyone for everything. About a month later, I walked in by just flashing my driver's licence. Three months later, the policeman was flirting on the phone and people were just walking past. I didn't even bother to take the checkpoint gate.

Sri Lankans believe that no matter what happens, it can't go on forever. And usually that is the case. Anything can happen, but not for long. Restrictions get relaxed, but not officially. Simply by tedium and apathy.

The problem is, this kind of thing increases passivity, as much as it increases with passivity. So when you get something like The Beast screwing the people in a big way, people are not going to do anything about it. There is the attitude that says, hey, he's not going to be here forever and the entire passivity that surrounds people. No one is going to stand up and say hold on, this is not right.

It is worthy of note that no one was celebrating when The Beast took on the role of el presidente de por vida. Well, no one except the people who were paid to do it. People understood what was happening, yet the question that many asked was what can I do?

But the thing is, there is a lot that can be done, if they wanted to. But nobody wanted to make waves. No one wanted to put himself in front and say this is wrong!

People just shrugged their shoulders and said, well, he can't live forever, and moved on. And this is the curse that plagues people who value freedom and equality in Sri Lanka. That anything you try to do will be haunted by the question, Why are you doing this? Why are you making a scene? Things will get better. This too shall pass

But it never does.