Cardinal Malcolm Ranjith His words of wisdom calmed the nation

Everyone remained calm thus preventing further calamities

The Easter Sunday calamity on April 21 in Sri  Lanka is undoubtedly one of the greatest destruction of world peace. 

Having ended the war, Sri Lanka was enjoying the fruits of peace in every sense of the word. A group of individuals charged with misguided ideology from overseas and with warped minds aimed at causing calamities in the country led to this tragedy. This carnage killed the peace and severely damaged the economy. 

There was an unbelievable magnitude of lapses on the part of the political hierarchy, the police and the bureaucracy. It all came down to a shameful level. Sri Lanka’s highly-rated intelligence service, which contributed significantly to end the war, was not taken seriously by relevant authorities. It is inconceivable. To a modern nation, a situation such as this could not prevail, but it did. Yet, another characteristic of this banana republic is that after all these lapses, several heads did not roll. This negative atmosphere was conducive to drive the country plunging into destruction and leading to deep darkness once again. 

It was one individual who prevented it from happening; a man with a deep sense of understanding of the social fabric of the country and the dangers of the situation getting out of control. He is none other than the Archbishop of Colombo, Cardinal Malcolm Ranjith. He was able to assess and understand the dangers that could unfold and acted swiftly. He rose to the occasion and advised people to remain calm and be considerate. He used the words of Jesus and called for calmness. He said hatred would breed hatred; he sighted the following example: “When a dog bites a man, he doesn’t bite the dog in turn. If he does, then there is no difference between human and animal.” He repeated this on several occasions. 

His messages went right down to the hearts of the people. Everyone remained calm thus preventing further calamities. What a great human being he truly is! A great prince of peace whose words of wisdom calmed the nation. 

I strongly believe he deserves the highest respect and regard. He should be bestowed with the highest award in the country. I would like to invite the view of religious bodies and civil society organisations on this. Let’s all work in unity to achieve peace in our motherland following the example of Cardinal Malcolm Ranjith.   

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