Opinion: One "Sri Lankan's" Dilemma

So much has been said by so many already about the hypocritical West, its vindictive Media and about the blind and biased Tamil Diaspora. I thought I must have heard it all by now...but there I was chatting to a friend when she turned around and hopped on a fierce and emotional accusation that the "Sinhalese" haven't changed, the government is still too nationalistic at heart and that Tamils will never forget the past, nor give up their hope for their individual rights, with or without the LTTE.

She's a smart girl and by no means an LTTE supporter, so I tried to show her examples of how moderate Tamils feel about the end of this bitter conflict and I was bending over backward trying to show her the depth of her misunderstanding and her blindness to reality. I was sure she would see the senselessness and hypocrisy of thousands of Tamils protesting against the annihilation of a "Terrorist" organization who they believed supported and fought for the ideals and aspirations of all Tamils.

Didn't the countless number of deaths caused by the LTTE justify its brutal end ? Didn't the Tamil Diaspora realize that rooting for the LTTE with violent protests only prove that they support terrorism, hate mongering and disrespect ? At the end of that conversation she just walked away and I was left with the feeling I had not even scratched the surface of her convictions.

My generation probably has faint memories of the terrible events of 1983, but the conversation with my friend only reinforced the belief that however hard anyone tries, and however glad  they maybe that this war is over, we can never convince the majority of Tamils who continue to view the government and the sinhalese with unease, suspicion, fear and yes even hatred, that everything will be nice and peachy now that the war is over.

Why ?

Because they will always ALWAYS hold fast to the belief that the government, the sinhalese majority did not do enough to prevent the injustices which pushed them into that corner of survival.

And so the war is over but the blame game continues -  Where do we find common ground to rebuild on these molten emotions ? How do we appease ? Do we have to ? These are questions the government must ask itself much more deeply that it has already.

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