AFTERWORD By Dr. A. T. Ariyaratne
In this easy-to-read and thoughtful volume, Dr. Patrick Mendis has identified issues that both bind us together and sepa-rate us from our fellow living beings. He presents a unique analysis, having emerged from the journey he took as an adopted child in rural Sri Lanka to the United States and around the world.
Whether listening to the extended speechifying of Fidel Cas-tro or observing the misery of Brazilian favelas, Dr. Mendis observes that the desire for freedom and democracy permeates the motivations of all people. Rich or poor, high or low-tech, the myriad societies of the earth yearn for opportunities to ex-press their highest aspirations. They wish to share part of themselves.
It is that same motivation and action—awakening and shar-ing oneself for the benefit of others—that has energized great movements of human history. Our own Sarvodaya Shramadana Movement in Sri Lanka reflects such values, views, and virtues, as does every great religious tradition.
Our spiritual inner-beings shape the actions we take as community leaders, advocates, citizens . . . and often as victims of forces that seem to be beyond our control as Dr. Mendis ex-plains in “Asian Holocaust” in Cambodia.
Yet generation after generation, we triumph over adversity. For nearly five decades of integrated development “from the bottom up,” Sarvodaya and like-minded approaches have shed light with a far more optimistic worldview. Although one can-not help but recognize suffering, one can also act in concert with neighbors and fellow world citizens. Indeed, that sort of en-gagement in the life of our local community and worldwide family may well be our salvation.
Influenced by Sarvodaya as a child, Dr. Mendis reflects that positive direction and worldview. His stories of shipboard voy-ages from country to country resound with the message that many know by different names. Eye opening travel, learning, and cultural experiences most certainly reflect the core of Sar-vodaya thought and action as well.
The individual touches, sees, smells, hears, and feels the na-ture of things differently in each context. The mind interprets with new sets of criteria and our appreciation of realities changes. That is the process by which the child becomes an adult, the immature nation becomes wise, and the struggling economy becomes open to equitable growth. As individuals, communities, nations, and interdependent beings, we awaken each other.
The partisan politics, which seem to overshadow such fun-damental values, rarely have the enduring loyalty that is earned through freedom, democracy, and full participation by those who are most affected. Dr. Mendis’ own actions reflect this message.
By donating a large portion of proceeds from the sales of this book and the previous edition to a Sarvodaya leadership and scholarship program and other tsunami projects in partnership with his Tsunami Leaders Caring ‘TLC’ Foundation, he illus-trates the very awakening to which these pages bear witness.