The Revealing Statue

statue1Walking along the Galle road in Mt. Lavinia the other day I came upon the following statue (see picture on right). It was erected in 2004 in “appreciation of the working class”. On closer inspection we see that the name of the person unveiling the statue is written in larger font than the persons to whom the statue has been dedicated to. How is it that the statue called a ‘workers monument’ has relegated the working class to second class status? Is this an innocent typo or does it reveal something deeper about the society that we live in? Does society have an inherent bias towards the rich and the powerful?

Doesn’t it appear that if you want to send your children to the more popular schools you need to have a sizable ‘donation’ readily available? Isn’t it easier to get a bank loan if you can show that you have enough assets at your disposal? How hard it is to get a job these days if you do not have some ‘connections’ in addition to your educational qualifications to back you up. Yes, society is biased towards the ‘haves’ isn’t it? But are religions any different? If you look at most major religions in the world, divine power is always associated with a successful military leader, priest or king who ‘happens’ to be a male. Doesn’t this show a bias towards those who hold power in those societies?

The God of the Bible, however, is infinitely different. Right from the beginning he takes his stand with those most vulnerable in society i.e. the orphan, widow and stranger. He purposely works with the ‘nobodies’ in society in order to debunk the theories of the powerful and ‘wise’. He enters into the world as a vulnerable baby and identifies himself with all those who were marginalized in his society. However his influence doesn’t stop there. The sacrifice of Jesus on the cross reveals how God tackles the root cause of suffering and injustice in the world by taking upon himself the problem of sin. Secular philosophers like Karl Marx, who advocated the revolutionary empowerment of the workers against those holding power, fails inspite of their noble intentions precisely because their solutions don’t deal with this root cause. The resurrection of Jesus also stands as evidence that the hope for justice and peace in the world is not wishful thinking but something that will come to pass when Christ returns to bring about God’s rule.

In the light of this don’t we need to ask ourselves who we take our stand with? Does our friends list show a ‘bias’ towards those who are weak and vulnerable? Does our work involve empowering the poor and marginalized or does it sustain or promote the status quo? Does our lifestyle and attitudes embody the message of identification with those less fortunate? Are we able to discern the biases of the ideologies in our generation? To believe in the God of the Bible and to not have a radical counter cultural lifestyle is a contradiction in terms. It reveals the worship of an idol far removed from who God really is. The statue was very illuminating wasn’t it?

categories Uncategorized | yohan November 9, 2009 | comments Comments (1)

Throwing Stones at Ourselves

Bamba drowning Sri Lankans everywhere were appalled at the video that came out last week. A mentally unstable man who was pelting stones at passers by was chased into the sea, beaten with poles and left to drown. The fact that it was done by policemen aided by members of the public only added to the cruelty. Cameramen from a television station taped the whole incident while Mr. Balawarnam Sivakumar was gasping his last breath. His body was washed ashore the next day.

But should we be shocked at what happened? Those who see incidents in isolation might say yes but incidents such as these don’t happen in a vacuum. For the last few years we have been constantly fed a steady stream of violence due to the ethnic conflict. Proponents of war have repeatedly said that brute force was the only way in which to solve our problems. The military was strengthened and given hero status. The media was galvanized to portray how we were crushing our ‘enemies’ without any regard to the human cost of war on all sides. Our artists joined in the bandwagon singing songs to cheer on our heroes. Those who pointed out the disastrous consequences to the nation were branded ‘unpatriotic’ and condemned.

In the immediate aftermath of the war several incidents remind us of the type of victory that we have won. Tamil citizens of this country still languish in ‘welfare’ camps while others are “re-settled” in ‘welfare’ camps in other locations. The long awaited and promised political solution to the conflict has been shelved and other issues have taken priority. Several incidents involving the police (assault of a SLIT student, brutal murder of youths in Angulana etc.) have come into light. The media continues to be oppressed and journalists struggle to write their stories with a clear conscience. Despite all this the war ‘victory’ and its heroes are still used for petty political gain by politicians on all sides without realizing the message that they are sending and its consequences. The murder of Mr. Sivakumar is only the latest in a long line of incidents that show how we have grown immune to treating human beings in this callous way. It is the direct result of the way in which we chose to solve our problems. However noble the goals were, the way we went about to achieve the goals has resulted in the type of society that we have now won for ourselves.

Despite mounting evidence the short sightedness of our leaders and the general public is astonishing. How long will we continue to think that ends justify the means? Do we still not realize that the means that we use affects the ends that we gain? How long will we continue to consider only the short term benefit without realizing the long term consequences of our actions? How long will we continue to be deceived by hype rather than facts? How long will we be ‘shocked’ at things that we ourselves created? We are all responsible for building the kind of society that brought forth what happened last week. Father forgive us, for we know not what we do.

categories Uncategorized | yohan November 3, 2009 | comments Comments (3)