“Every time you try to conform to other people’s expectations you are unhappy. When you are who you are, you are happy. But then you make those around you unhappy. In consequence you become unhappy. As a result of their unhappiness. So you remain as ever, unhappy.”

Sri Lanka is our country. Our culture, our race, our people. Sometimes we forget this, forget that greatness can also be achieved in our Motherland. Our Motherland, what it means to us and how we can make it better. We chase that elusive dream, the white picket fenced house, which is not ours, some white-man in the west goes to sleep and wakes up thinking about it. And we foolishly dream his dream. When can we ever shred the noose of our colonial masters?

Someone tell this man that there are 660,000 refugees (displaced persons) in Sri Lanka. Some displaced by the Tsunami, and not all Tamil. Tell him that in a nation where lawless states remained in the control of a terror group, the slaying of journalist could be carried out by any party, and not just the government.

The balance of payments crisis sounds rather dry but it really would have a devastating impact on the economy and on the people [of Sri Lanka], particularly the most vulnerable.

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.

This out dated mentality of 'oppose to get your point across' has never ever worked. Thus far Sri Lanka has only paid close attention to it's allies. Not those who dictate terms to her.