To heal a nation, words must be matched with deeds

The dates May 18-19 highlight a continuing divide in the country with few willing to look at the losses on the other side though they were all Sri Lankans.

- Jehan Perera

These two days in particular surface the uncomfortable truth that the country's people have different memories, including the manner in which the three-decade long war ended. The Tamil people have commemorated May 18 as the day on which many of them, including members of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE), were killed and the war was lost. This year there were commemorations in different parts of the country, including in Colombo. It was not only Tamils who commemorated their loved ones on May 18. Sinhalese did so too at ceremonies they organized. They were all sorrowful occasions.

The government commemorated May 19 at the War Heroes Memorial near Parliament, remembering both the victory that was won and the members of the security forces who were killed with President Anura Kumara Dissanayake in attendance. The president emphasized the costs of war and price paid by people. He pointed out "Not only in the South, but also in the North, people hold up photographs of their husbands and children on the streets and mourn their deaths. To every parent, their child is precious. So, as a country that has faced such a massive tragedy, our responsibility today is to prevent such a war from happening again in our country."