Promises and Promise Keeping

When was the last you made a promise to someone?

‘I’ll take out the trash after dinner next time’

If you are the Boss in a workplace, there’s something your co workers will always like to hear. ‘I promise we’ll give you a promotion in six months’. How often have you done this?

We make commitments to others. Most often. But the question is – have you kept your promises? It is impossible to follow through on every single promise you make in life. But knowing how many you break and how much you handle is important. It will tell you who you are and what you are. Breaking promises communicate many things. It can make the other party feel that you don’t value him or her anymore. Even when you break small promises, others learn that they cannot count on you. Even tiny fissures in relationships that we build are marked by broken promises. Not keeping a promise is more the same as disrespecting yourself, I think. And at the end it can damage our self –image and self esteem.

Promises were pumped up. Heavily. A month ago. There was stage talk. A lot. It was quite a time for politicians to reminisce the forgotten promises. That’s how things are when elections are close by. But they are not ‘promises’ always. Politicians often forget what they  say as time passes by. So who on earth are they convincing? This is the election dilemma. Elections are commitment games. But they are not necessarily. Voters will support the most appealing policies. But who knows whether they will follow through? All we have is their word. Their assurance. Election promises are there for breaking .

Sure that voters weigh up the honesty of a candidate. But honesty shouldn’t be the only factor to determine who will be the best. Potential of a candidate matters too.

Anyway we have chosen who is going to lead us for the next few years. . It’s over. Finally. They have made their day under the sun. Ballet boxes gone. Some won. Some lost. Elections are like anything that we play. Sometimes we cry. Sometimes we laugh. Maithripala was lucky. And guess who did the trick? It’s like a bonus for many who wanted a change. However, it’s high time to shut up ourselves now. It’s done. Dusted.

Dusted?

Well, not apparently. People still sing and dance about the win and lose. Celebrations aren’t over. It’s upsetting to see what’s happening in Face book and other social media sites. Some throwing hate speech among each other on Mahinda –Maithri politics. Some utterly worried about the yahapalanaya. And some talking of separatism again. There’s something we have got to do. We need to throw away the word ‘separatism’ from our dictionaries.Badly. Those who talk of separatism and those trying to bring back terror need to understand a few things. LTTE is gone. Terrorism is dead. We’ve not heard of any unofficial use of violence since the day it was ended. That was in 2009. No bombs. No curfews. No roadblocks. So it’s quite obvious that the Northerners do need peace. And they have accepted peace. This is not time for racial politics or party politics. All we need is a unification of everything. And look forward to an uncorrupted and developed country.

In bringing all the change , development and what not , Maithripala has promised us a 100 day plan. 100 days are going to be hard. Some would be even harder unless there is enough money to drag in. And look at the cabinet. It’s not the kind of thing most people wanted. Sounds like those who couldn’t make their wishes come true have already made them. Be careful. What you wish for might not be what the voters want. Cabinets aren’t there to make wishes come true or for demotions or promotions. There again qualifications and competency matters.

Don’t get me wrong. I’ve learnt that Maithripala won majority of the mandates. Thought it was him who defeated Mahinda. But things are confusing. I’ve heard some saying that old elephant story is back again. It’s more or less a Ranil show. Well, he under wooded things so far . Then what will happen to Maithripala’s promises? Will he do them by himself in coming days? Or are they going to happen the way Ranil wants?

Having said all these , let’s forget not carp at what is been done so far. There’s more to come. We are eagerly waiting to see the so called ‘ change’. People are watchful than ever before. Good luck with everything boy!


(Written for Colombo Telegraph , 26th January 2015)