I still recall titles of articles I particularly liked,
memory being jolted by something related, a thought, word, act or
incident. I remembered one called ‘Have
you ever seen a worn-out paper clip?’
This was in a 1978 or 1979 issue, if I remember right. It was, as the title indicates, about wasting
things.
This was long before ‘re-use, re-cycle, reduce’ became
topics for poster competitions and international conferences. I think few in the USA would have seen a worn
out paperclip even today, more than thirty years later and not just because
staplers have become more common during this time.
I was reminded of that article about a week ago. This was at an unpretentious and charming
ceremony to induct the new Chairperson of the SANASA Development Bank. There was pirith
before the official induction took place at a time considered to be auspicious. Pirith
was followed by a pithy, appropriate and even profound anusasana by the Most Venerable
Nikahetiye Sandado Thero, a long time associate of the outgoing Chairperson,
P.A. Kiriwandeniya, i.e. from the time they were students at Vidyodaya in the
early sixties.
Ven. Sandado Thero related an anecdote from pre-Independence
times. A petition demanding independence was to be
hand-delivered to the British. E.W.
Perera had been tasked to do this. Money
was required for the journey. Perera and
an associate had been going from door to door, asking for donations. It had been late evening when they got to
F.R. Senanayake’s house. Before they
could knock they had heard Senanayake berating a domestic aid for having used
two matchsticks instead of one when lighting the oil lamp. They had entered and stated their request but
not with any great expectations for they thought he was stingy. How could a man whose sense of thrift
persuades him to quarrel over a single wasted matchstick be expected to donate
anything, they must have thought. As it
happened, Senanayake immediately agreed to fund the entire trip.
The Hamuduruwo
observed, ‘this is our way’.
‘We don’t waste, we don’t spend on that which is
unnecessary; we do, however, give without restraint for that which is
important’.
The learned Bikkhu
then gently observed that many matchsticks had been used to light the oil lamp
used for the occasion.
Thinking about Sri Lanka and Sri Lankans, I believe the
Venerable Sandaso had touched an important element of our cultural and
civilizational ethos. We are a generous
people. I can’t think of any other
nation that turns into a dansala
twice every year, i.e during Vesak and Poson.
Funerals are not private affairs, for example.
I remember attending the funeral of one of the first Gal Oya
settlers. He was a good farmer. So were his sons. They had enough rice to feed the entire
village for months. The villagers, as is
customary, approached the older of the sons and said they would provide meals
for all those who came to pay their last respects. The sons had thanked them for their kindness
and added that they (the sons) could manage themselves. The neighbours had politely but firmly
responded ‘api genava, umbala kemathi
nama visikarapalla’ (we will nevertheless bring the food; you are free to
throw it all away). The younger son, my
friend Premasiri, had smiled, realized how much in error they were and agreed
to the villagers’ proposal.
There is a time for thrift and a time to give. For years, for example, it was extremely
difficult to recruit people to the Army.
That was not the time to give, perhaps.
However, when it became evident that the threat was enormous and those
responsible for meeting the threat were serious, there was no lack of people
ready to give their lives.
We don’t lack in the stingy of course. On the other hand, ‘conservation’ and
‘thrift’ are very much a part of who we are.
This is true of all communities living in this island. Even the most humble household will have a
few flower pots. The smallest plot of land will have some trees. When the Hantane Housing Scheme was built,
the entire mountainside seemed to have been raped. My mother said it reminded her about a poem
called ‘Little Boxes’. Today, it’s all green.
Those who came to occupy those houses on a few perches of land didn’t just
plant grass and a few flowers. They
planted things which grew into trees.
And yet, we too haven’t seen many worn-out paper clips. We are still careless enough to use two
matchsticks where one would suffice. We
forget that there are big lessons to be learnt from small things, and that
attention to the small things enhances our capacities to give big when
‘big-giving’ is required.
Some small lessons are good to revisit and relearn,
Ven. Nikahetiye Sandado Thero taught me
a few days ago.
[First published in July 2011 in the 'Daily News']
Malinda Seneviratne is
a freelance writer who can be reached at msenevira@gmail.com
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