A Society That Rewards Violence Will Not Progress
By Asanga Abeyagoonasekera –September 18, 2015
Asanga Abeygoonasekera
“Tame the savageness of man and make gentle the life of this world.” ― Aeschylus
Robert F Kennedy used Aeschylus to explain the need to make life more gentle at a turbulent juncture in history in the 1960s. It is appropriate to echo this statement in light of the savageness that surround us evident from stories one hears on a daily basis.
The world that we live has an ugly side which needs to be addressed through the law and justice mechanisms. This is the society we live in; this is the society our kids are going to grow up in. It is our responsibility to make a change. Stand united and fight against abuse. This was written in the month of June by this author and published at Colombo Telegraph asking to stand for Ajith.
An 18-year-old school girl in Pungudutivu of the Northern Province was gang raped and murdered in the most brutal of ways. This act is a lasting disgrace upon our society. It is not the first of cases as our nation has a high percentage of rape and other forms of sexual abuse. This was written in the month of May.
Recently, yet another incident was reported in Kotadeniyawa. An innocent four and a half year old girl named Seya was strangled and sexually abused. This is another disturbing story among many on our island home. How many children need to face this cruelty for it to be too much? Barbaric acts of such nature need to be punished. It is the right time to seriously consider bringing back capital punishment as we have become a society that rewards violence. According to National Child Protection Authority (NCPA) Chaiman Dr. Natasha Balendra admitted that the legal system in the country had failed to meet out punishment to child abusers the way it should as court cases of this nature would last for about eight to nine years. A comment from Prof.Harendra de Silva regarding Seya’s incident said “people know killing, peddling drugs or other related crimes are not brought to book and a common belief that if they kill someone they would be in a different position in society”.