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" Where are You Now? I was there whilst you cried,I was there to comfort you with smile,I was there to give you a hand,when all faith was lost.I was there to open doors of opportunities,I was there to share my passion for life,I was there to feed you,when you were hungry.I was there to listen to your turmoil,I was there to lift your spiritwhen you were broken.I was there when you were ill and alone.I was there when you were betrayed,lied to and ridiculed.I was there to understand,to care and to share.I was there …to play, to sing, to dance,to write, to love, to create and innovate.I was there …Where are you now? …by Natasha Parker "
75
" I believe that you're great, that there's something magnificent about you. Regardless of what has happened to you in your life, regardless of how young or how old you think you might be, the moment you begin to think properly, there's something that is within you, there's power within you, that's greater than the world. It will begin to emerge. It will take over your life. It will feed you. It will clothe you. It will guide you, protect you, direct you, sustain your very existence, if you let it. Now, that is what I know for sure. "
― Michael Bernard Beckwith
76
" War crimes, you say?
No matter how many policies you put on paper, in reality, there are no rights and wrongs in war. War itself is a crime. War cannot be justified.
I believe, the only people, in this world, whose opinions matter, are the ones who go the extra mile to help other people expecting nothing in return.
Soldiers who fight fiercely for their country, the doctors in Sri Lanka's public hospitals attending to hundreds of patients at a time for no extra pay , the nuns who voluntarily teach English and math to children of refugee camps in the north, the monks who collect food to feed entire villages during crises, they are the people worth listening to, their opinion matters.
So find me one of them who will say: they wish the war didn't end in 2009, that they wish Sri Lanka was divided into two parts. Find me one of them who agrees with the international war crime allegations against Sri Lanka, and I will listen.
But I will not listen to the opinions of those who are paid to find faults in a war they were never a part of, a war they never experienced themselves. I will not listen to the opinions of those who watched the war on tv or read about it on the internet or were moved by a documentary on Al Jazeera.
The war is over. The damage is done. Let Sri Lanka move on. So our children will never have to see what we've seen. "
― Thisuri Wanniarachchi