Thinking out of the box

President Gotabaya Rajapaksa’s recent recommendation, or request, to ‘think out of the box’ is indeed inspiring. However, one wonders whether the request has fallen on fertile ears or taken for granted. The key words in that proclamation was to achieve ‘self sustainability’ in the interests of development of the country. The underlying factor was the need to break free of the outdated shackles that have restrained even intellectuals from moving forward.

In a lighter vein, irrespective of political affiliations, should EACH of the 225 MPs initiate a SINGLE out of the box idea PER YEAR for the next five years, the sky will be the limit for the country’s prosperity. To include the hundreds of relevant officials into that list would be mind blowing.

Generally, any decision made by a ruling authority will, in the short term, meet with severe resistance from many quarters. However, after a period of time, people tend to forget the source of their disenchantment and continue to proceed with their normal livelihood. It is neither my intention to cause a controversy nor find fault with the system. But thinking aloud it would be prudent to state that granting something (or everything) free of charge to anyone would result in laziness being the norm of life. This is probably an area where such out of the box thinking could come in handy.

Half a century ago, the staple food of people – rice – was issued free through weekly coupons but somewhere down the years this practice was abolished but none perished.

That Sri Lanka is a poor country, in the present context, is more a myth than reality. Whatever hardships they may go through, the people would find ways and means to exist. Money continues to float around somehow. Logical thinking will prove that families would never be able to survive a whole month with the subsistence they receive from the government. But still they live. And do so normally in competition with those who could afford.

Two important sectors that could be cited as examples (in brief though) are education and health. Are ‘paying’ montessoris functioning without children? How come private ‘tuition classes’ for scholarship, ordinary and advanced level examinations are chock-a-block filled with students? How many ‘international’ schools and universities have mushroomed over the country? Are these institutions not self sustained and thriving?

Can one imagine the total number of patients queuing up, on a daily basis, at private medical institutions to channel consultant specialists? Is one aware of the enormous amounts expended by patients for various surgeries conducted at private hospitals? Are these hospitals not self sustained? The list could go on.

I leave it to one and all to read between the lines. Perhaps there is some food for thought in these observations.

WILLIAM OPP