Celebrating the 39th Independence Day
Thursday, 26 March 2009
The nation celebrates its 39th Independence Day today. It is a day of great joy and merriment, because the nation was born on this day. As in the life of a person, the day of a nation's birth is not one of unmixed joy, for it also brings back the memory of the great struggle, spilling of blood and the attending suffering and pain that the nation had to experience before it was able to wrest its freedom from the clutches of its enemies. The story has been told and retold many times over. Every nation has the uniqueness of its history of birth and the struggle, the sacrifice and the suffering that go with it. The great sons of the soil without whose supreme sacrifice the national independence could be harder to achieve are remembered and honoured on this day.
As a matter of ritual, the acts of remembrance and showing of honour to the national heroes are being performed in a routine fashion on this day, too. The day of our independence is being honoured in this way for the past 38 years. Meanwhile, we have passed our childhood, adolescence and even the early years of adulthood. The liberation war generation are now crossing their middle age and many are already in their old age. Many have died. Many other war heroes who embraced the enemy's bullet, but survived, are the living memories of the unparallel courage and sacrifice the freedom fighters had to make for the great cause of national independence. They are also honoured for their sacrifice and valour.
But is the day of national independence only one of remembrance and celebration? Is it the only way to honour the martyred war heroes as well as those who are still alive bearing the memory of the war? There are others who were crippled by the enemy bullet and passing their days in wheel chairs. What are they witnessing? Are their feelings, in spite of their emotion and pride for what they did for the nation, full of unadulterated joy and merriment?
The heroes of the national liberation war, and the entire people who were behind them, fought the war because their mission was to present the progeny with a nation that will be able to stand with its head high among the global community of nations. And if the nation and its people are really to bask in that kind of pride, they will have to do more than just remembering the day and telling the rest of the world how we suffered and also with what great bravery the enemy was fought and vanquished in the end.
So, the main purpose of telling and retelling the story of our of liberation war and the great cause for which it was fought to our children, lest they be oblivious of our glorious national past, will be to show that we are also worthy of that noble legacy. But while telling the story of our national war of liberation, we need also to take great care that we are not lost only in the emotion-choked memory of the suffering, the sacrifice and the heroism that went with the war. We need to also to remember that it all had a still greater mission that propelled the war. It is this greater cause of winning the economic freedom of the people for which the whole nation was rock solid in its support. So, the story of our liberation war must be able to tell what successes were achieved after the war by our national leaders in the spirit of that still greater mission of achieving the economic freedom. And that is also the story to tell the world community of nations, if we really mean to stand among them with our heads high.
As a matter of ritual, the acts of remembrance and showing of honour to the national heroes are being performed in a routine fashion on this day, too. The day of our independence is being honoured in this way for the past 38 years. Meanwhile, we have passed our childhood, adolescence and even the early years of adulthood. The liberation war generation are now crossing their middle age and many are already in their old age. Many have died. Many other war heroes who embraced the enemy's bullet, but survived, are the living memories of the unparallel courage and sacrifice the freedom fighters had to make for the great cause of national independence. They are also honoured for their sacrifice and valour.
But is the day of national independence only one of remembrance and celebration? Is it the only way to honour the martyred war heroes as well as those who are still alive bearing the memory of the war? There are others who were crippled by the enemy bullet and passing their days in wheel chairs. What are they witnessing? Are their feelings, in spite of their emotion and pride for what they did for the nation, full of unadulterated joy and merriment?
The heroes of the national liberation war, and the entire people who were behind them, fought the war because their mission was to present the progeny with a nation that will be able to stand with its head high among the global community of nations. And if the nation and its people are really to bask in that kind of pride, they will have to do more than just remembering the day and telling the rest of the world how we suffered and also with what great bravery the enemy was fought and vanquished in the end.
So, the main purpose of telling and retelling the story of our of liberation war and the great cause for which it was fought to our children, lest they be oblivious of our glorious national past, will be to show that we are also worthy of that noble legacy. But while telling the story of our national war of liberation, we need also to take great care that we are not lost only in the emotion-choked memory of the suffering, the sacrifice and the heroism that went with the war. We need to also to remember that it all had a still greater mission that propelled the war. It is this greater cause of winning the economic freedom of the people for which the whole nation was rock solid in its support. So, the story of our liberation war must be able to tell what successes were achieved after the war by our national leaders in the spirit of that still greater mission of achieving the economic freedom. And that is also the story to tell the world community of nations, if we really mean to stand among them with our heads high.