As we jump hurdles over what seems to be muddy, murky mire otherwise known as life in Sri Lanka, we have a set of involuntary comedians who are determined to behave in the most-base manner, showing blatant disregards for humanity in general. How long more must we watch this nonsense. 

I remember a time where those who aspired for higher office were firmly encamped in a party that carried the values that they were aligned to. These people would stand by their ideals and their party policies no matter what, and a hop across was usually rare and made for headline news. Cut to the present day? The promise of getting one’s bank balance padded and ‘favored status’ is all it takes to ‘cross over,’ what used to be a divide greater than the Grand Canyon! Nausea inducing is the only way I could describe these traitorous turncoats! 

We as a nation have sunk beneath the lowest of the low in every aspect of life, where the economy is a festering barnacle on the lives of the nation. Gone are the days when we lived within our means, as now one has to project where one’s means would get you the next day. Usually getting less and less while spending more and more seems to be the perilous pattern. As I said in an article recently, “darkness seems to have descended on our nation, in more ways than one.” The power cuts seem to be just the edge of this darkening abyss. 

The juggling from lack luster jokers seem to be the main vein of what is currently the ‘state of the union’ where one offers a title, a few vehicles, and an official passport and all ethics and values, morals and merit gets thrown out the window. Sworn camp            die-hards are few and far between. As we slipped into violence that marked what seemed to be the crescendo of the nation’s disappointments and frustrations, the perpetrators and blatant instigators ended up paying the price, as they ‘swam with the swans’ in the stagnant polluted city lake that seemed to represent the pollution of their very beings! The world watched, we watched, we prayed for a peaceful resolution, but the remedial steps seemed disappointingly slow, multi faceted, and self-serving. People chose this time to get personal, to drag people through the mud while sullying their names and reputations simply to sate their personal vendettas. From accusations that flew left, right, up and down, through to nonsensical finger pointing, the resolutions seemed far away. 

As a nation this was a time, we should have all come together in order to find a common solution to our issues, but many people were on a mission to sling the ‘guilty by association’ mud on anyone they didn’t like. Why? Because they could! Social media seemed to be the accuser, judge and jury in many instances, with finger pointing being the fuse that would set off the detonation. Why? Because petty irresponsible behavior seems to be the past time du jour! 

Now while all this was happening and we waited with baited breath for the next step, the party people passionately paraded their pomp! Shameless is an understatement for these nouveau riche social moths, as they tried to out do each other in the ‘fake fabulous’ category. These vapid vamps who could use a bit of history and sociology reading, lunched and brunched their way through one of the most tumultuous times in our history. Some with their lovers and some with their losers, some with friends and some with frenemies, continued the party circuit through it all. Surrounded, I might add, by their sycophants who need the free meals and free drinks in order to maintain their fake lifestyles on the gram! Do any of these people honestly think that we are so gullible? That we would believe that they are at these parties because of real friendships? Let’s try removing the ‘gifts and glitter’ being thrown around and see how many attend!

Obviously, these socialites have minimal cerebral capabilities and maybe spent their time in school braiding each other’s hair! Do they not have the basic sense to realize that they don’t need to be the local badly dressed versions of “Nero fiddling while Rome burned?” Then again, the majority of them would not know who Nero was. Celebrating anything and everything when society at large does not have the basics of food, fuel and medicines is just in poor taste and shows a horrific ‘disconnect’ from society. I mean do they need to celebrate every singe birthday? Maybe someone can give them the names and addresses of charities that could benefit from their unearned money. Also perhaps ask them to leave their personal photographers at home when they are distributing food or attending religious ceremonies. Oh what a wonderful world this would be. 

Rather than do some good and help those around them, the social moths are sending around pantone color cards informing their party invitees what colors to wear, etc. obviously they didn’t have any parties as children because the only time this is even acceptable is if the themes are ‘My Little Pony’ and ‘Winnie the Pooh’ where the children are asked to wear a specific thematic color! Also it is acceptable if one belongs to the ‘crunchy money’ set. This wonderful adage holds extra meaning in these instances as new money notes always makes a crunchy sound where as old money notes are quiet. 

As we live through and watch the next chapter in our desperate attempts at recovery, we also watch Statesman leapfrog over, around and under each other in attempts at securing some title within the hallowed halls of power. Apart from the silliness of their tirades for the camera in order to placate the populace, the majority is as fake as their wives and concubines, physical attributes! I personally could not care less about who is holding what esteemed position, as long as we as a nation are able to survive and move forward. While we all crawl through these disastrous times, let us make an effort to see not just with our eyes, but also with our minds and hearts. We should be aware and make aware that we too can help build back in our own way, one step at a time.