Upali Jayasekera’s letter, “Ingratitude seems to come naturally to our people” (in last week’s Sunday Times) made very interesting reading. While going through the letter, countless cases of human ingratitude came to mind.
Children discard the parents who have done so much for them. These old people have no food, clothing or shelter, and they die of negligence.
Employees given jobs by benevolent masters plot to rob their employers.Brothers and sisters cheat their own family members to acquire family fortunes.
Students betray teachers who gave them a foundation for their future.
Husbands plot against their wives, and wives do the same to their husbands.
Politicians abandon their party and party members and supporters and cross over to the governing side for personal gain.
During the 1988-89 insurgency, one of my employees – a homeless girl I had employed and who had worked for me for six years – betrayed me to the insurgents, who demanded a ransom that had to be delivered inside a cemetery in the middle of the night. How I escaped death on that occasion is a miracle.
A family friend, a widow, was murdered by someone whose partner in the crime was the widow’s own domestic, whom she had brought up as child.
A friend of mine sold his tea estate to raise money so his daughter could study medicine at a foreign university. When he later gave his doctor daughter in marriage, he gave the couple his house and property, without life interest. Today my friend is in an elders’ home.
Those are sad stories about human ingratitude.
Here, in contrast, is a true story about an animal’s gratitude to man.
During the 2004 tsunami, a gentleman who lived on the banks of the Nilwala Ganga, in Matara, was saved by a crocodile he used to feed daily with food leftovers.
When the huge waves swept him into the river, and he was struggling in the water, the crocodile suddenly appeared. In desperation, the man clung on to the back of the animal, and the crocodile took him to safety. This is real life, not fiction.
I heartily endorse the views expressed by Mr. Jayasekera about that abominable human trait – ingratitude.
Dr. D. Malwatte Mohotti,
Bandaragama
Message for the blindfolded masses
Mr. Upali Jayasekera’s letter, “Ingratitude seems to come naturally to our people” (Sunday Times, August 22) is quite timely.
It should be an eye-opener for most Sri Lankans, who think they are heading towards Utopia, when in fact they are blindfolded as they are being led elsewhere.
It is a pity such important letters do not reach the Sinhala press. No doubt a very large population would wish to read unbiased news about the “world’s best Army Commander.”
U. W. Wickremasinghe,
Ambalangoda |
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