We seem to be a privileged lot, as we have been granted a “live view” on the inside happenings of our August Assembly for which we, the common people have, with much hope, elected a set of “know all” representatives to decide on our day to day affairs.

The television set is on and sessions of the vital money allocation discussions are visible, with both sides concentrating more on their advantages rather than the needs of the common man, to show off their prowess in voice modulation and useless banter, instead of using the precious time to discuss the matters concerning the people.

Suddenly the scene is changed!

Words such as Viagra, male prostitution and also insulting Sinhala words such as Vattakkaya, Nakiya and even three letter Sinhala filth start flying around like sharp arrows piercing the sensitive hearts of the common man in the public gallery and also the vast TV audience.

Is this the behaviour we had expected of them when casting our vital vote?

The question reverberates like thunder, sans any answer, but our “representatives” seem not to care for another two or three years to come. As they are assured of a pension after “serving” only five years and also granted enough openings to earn money enough to survive for seven generations, why should they care or worry about public opinion?

In this kind of circumstance, the best thing we could and should do is to turn off the TV set or change the channel to watch a more interesting cartoon series.

If not we’ll be adding these stupid episodes to our already existing problems resulting in the increase of our anger and stress levels.

By Vijaya Ariyarathna