When faced with injustice or war, there are several natural responses. Unfortunately, apathy is too often the default response. When injustices in the world do not directly affect an individual, apathy becomes the shield to keep one’s world safe from outside interference. For those who see and feel injustice firsthand, apathy cannot provide respite. The state of the world cannot be ignored in such a case, and new responses arise. Cynicism, an acknowledgment of the world’s evils combined with conscious resignation, becomes yet another barrier to protect one’s carefully crafted sphere of concern. The truth is that both of these responses are walls meant to keep the most natural response at bay, compassion. If the deep problems of the world sink into the heart and mind, then compassion is the only responsible reciprocation. Compassion does not leave those it touches unchanged, and perhaps that is why so many people will go to great lengths to evade it, for fear of change.
A group like Sri Lanka Unites does not have the luxuries of apathy or cynicism. This is a group that deeply cares for the others of their native country. Like all others who have been touched by compassion, the journey does not end with mere emotion. Emotion leads to action, and sustained action leads to commitment. Commitment is what keeps one moving, even when emotions run dry. This is what Sri Lanka Unites stands for, a committed change for the future so that there will no longer be a need to feel the injustices of war.
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