In Memory of Children Lost to a "Warring" Mother-Lanka

Yes, the pun was intended. We were all children born to a Mother who was caught in the middle of what was going to be a long 30-year war amongst her children. I am writing this at this moment in time, because I recently remembered  a bomb blast that took place 7 years ago on the eve of independence day. I am writing to awaken minds once again to all that we lost just from ONE out of several bomb blasts our Mother has endured. I am writing so that we all work together as one, to never let our Mother fall into a state where she will see such horrifying things again.

February 3rd 2008- Fort Railway Station Bomb-blast

A pair of blind parents lost the light to their eyes,
A wife lost her loving husband,
A toddler never got to create any memories with her father,
A sibling lost their first friend,
A family lost its breadwinner,
A schoolchild lost their classmate,
A baseball team lost its players and its coach,
A school lost a handful of its brightest students,
Every child  lost a part of their childhood a little bit too early,
A Nation lost youth that would've one day polished even brighter this Pearl of a Country.

We remember you all and our hearts go out to you my innocent friends. We can still feel at our fingertips, the crippling effects of  the gaping holes left behind in the fabric of life after the war. What is a war? What is a war when we ultimately reconcile in order to co-exist in harmony. Is it just like a poker game, except instead of chips, you dole out human lives until one side regains their conscience and realizes what they're fighting for is not worth the humanity its slowly losing?
People may have different views on wars and their significance, but what I want to beg of each and every individual is, never allow any altercation to get as far enough to let our future generations see again such awful things as we saw in our childhood.

I wonder how many tears of joy our Mother would've cried by now if only these beautiful souls got to live to see the light of day. We all lost so much just from this SINGLE war-time bomb blast in the heart of Colombo. But our Mother, she has felt the excruciating pain of many many more losses  from all corners of the country, be it North, South, East or West. I am glad this war is over and I salute the tri-forces, but let us not see another one. Make our Mother proud, she deserves it after all we've put her through.

Photo courtesy of NCM Lanka

Thank you,
Child born to a War.