Respect for Every Profession

We talk about respect a lot. We talk about how important it is to respect the elders. We talk about how important it is to respect women. We talk about how important it is to respect people from every walks of life. However, this last point is easily forgotten when it comes to respecting people from all professions.

I live in a country where the most desirable professions are still doctors and engineers. All other professions are just worthless. There have been some changes about this opinion especially among young people in the recent times. That is why I, who wanted to be a doctor when I was little decided to become a writer and a translator when I was old enough to make a choice, even when I had enough educational qualifications to follow Biology for the A/Ls. I understood not everyone has to be a doctor if we are to serve this society. Some may disagree with me, but the majority of the open minded people will agree with me.

For me, choosing a profession should happen because we truly want to be in that field. However, that can be hard depending on your financial situation. There are times you may have to take the opportunity that you have in order to survive. At such a point, choosing a career because you have to, is acceptable.

However, there are always people in this society who have the necessary freedom and the financial background to make whatever choice they want to make. As I said earlier, I live in a country where the most accepted profession is either becoming a doctor or an engineer. I really do not know how many of these people actually want to enter these fields because they love the profession, because they want to do their due diligence to the society in the best way they can. From what I have seen and heard they enter, especially, the medical field because they want that immediate recognition and respect the society bestows on them and, of course, the monetary gain. If they really entered the medical field because they cared our state hospital system would be the most efficient in the whole wide world.

Every profession deserves respect because every one of those people are contributing to the society. If we do not have the garbage men and women, who would keep our cities clean? Would you volunteer for that? Of course not. Almost all of us cover our noses while we pass a garbage dump or a garbage truck. Then, the least you can do is showing some respect for those people. My parents have always showed us that is the right way to live through their actions. Whenever someone comes to do some work for us we pay them the right amount. Most of the time, my parents give them some extra money to take some sweets or so for their kids. After every Sinhala New Year celebration, we and the neighbours give sweetmeats and some beverages for the crew of the garbage truck. We do not have to. However, we do that because we see them as humans and we want to show our respect for the service they do to us.

I think the respect for all professions, like many other things, should come from home. If you are a parent obsessed about making your child a doctor and says or does things to make him or her aware of that fact from the childhood the child is definitely going to follow those ideas. Also, as parents, people should show their respect for every professional beginning from the gardener. It is time for a change of opinions people. Sri Lanka, this is specially for your attention!

Reading: The New “Cool” Thing

The moment a book lover hears the word “reading” their face lights up. Their mind fills up with all those wonderful books they have read. If you give a book lover a chance, he or she will talk about the stories they love even for hours. That is because love for books happen naturally. It comes from the heart. Just like the love between two people there are those who fake it and who really are in love with books. There is a clear distinction between these two groups. Therefore, there is no need to be perplexed by the situation.

The month of September is special to Sri Lankan book lovers because that is when Colombo International Book Fair (CIBF) takes place. Almost all the publishers come to the book fair and the book lovers get an opportunity to visit all these stalls and buy whatever book they want. Apart from a few book emporiums which have branches island wide, most of the publishers are secluded to one city. Sometimes, some good publishers’ book shops are only found in Colombo. Therefore, for someone who lives outside of Colombo, who cannot frequents any of these book shops regularly, this book fair is a tremendous opportunity.

However, with the recent increase in the use of social media, especially Facebook, there seems to have emerged a new set of book lovers. They appear on different groups dedicated to books and showcase their love for books. However, from the majority of posts that actually appear in these pages, we get the problem whether these people are actually reading books? They will whine about the book prices being expensive. At a moment when the printing costs have gone up you cannot expect to buy a book for a cheap price. That can be possible with second hand books. However, that is not possible with new books. Therefore, a real book lover would usually select at least a few books he or she want to buy and buy them without complaining. From what I personally have seen on social media, I get the feeling that most of these fake book lovers have actually started saying they are reading books because suddenly it has become the new “cool” thing in Sri Lanka. I have no idea whether this tendency is there in other countries.

There was a time when reading a book was a radical thing. In my country’s history, there was a time when a woman was not allowed to read novels because as the elders put it reading “can spoil the girls.” At such a time, reading was a radical thing. However, now we live in a world where we can read books if we want to. If we have money we can buy a book and read. If we do not have money and still want to read we can start going to a library. A real book lover will always find ways to read books. He or she will also use what they read in their real lives.

Reading is a wonderful experience. However, you should engage in it only if you have a real passion for it. Not because it has become the new “cool” thing and you want to show off to the world that you are wise because you read.

Life

Life is one of those small words that has a huge meaning. How can such a small word which only has four letters come with so many meanings? How can it be so difficult to explain? May be we can find out.

If you have to be specific, life can be introduced to anyone as the period between birth and death. Sure, that is the accurate meaning of the word. However, each of us see life in a different way. That is because life is a personalized experience. You may not see life in the same way  I see it.

We give our own interpretations of life based on what we deem important too. For example, a musician can say that life is a melody that still needs perfection. Or that it is a music that is a mix of sad and happy tunes. A writer would say life is a story that has climaxes and anticlimaxes. We all have heard people saying that life is like a book where each page records your experiences. When you embark on new journeys in life you say that you are starting a new chapter.

What is life then? In my opinion, life is everything everyone says it is. It can be sad. It can be happy. At times it can be terrifying, especially when we lose people we love and do not know how to face the world without them. However, if a life was all happy incidents it would be a monotonous experience. Though we will not accept this sometimes, life is interesting because it is a mixture of happiness, sadness, fear, anger, etc. By changing our situations, it teaches us lessons.

When things do not happen in the way we expected them to happen people become fierce. That is natural. However, if you continue to act in the same aggressive manner after this one incident without changing your path, you may end up throwing your valuable life away. We need to have the strength to accept whatever life throws at us.

What is the most important thing about life? The most important thing about life is that it is short. None of us are immortal. We all come with an expiration date. Seventy or eighty years in a world that is billions of years old is not a huge deal. That is why we should make most of the time that is given to us. That does not necessarily mean you should see everywhere in the world before you die. It means you should lead your life in a way that you can be happy about in the end. May be your happiness just lies in helping out your family. Whatever you do, enjoy life! Enjoy it in the way you want to!