In the recent awake of the ‘Black Lives matter’ moment, I thought we should use our available platforms to talk of ‘what matters’. Let me start by suggesting, do not discriminate this wonderful movement by labeling it with a colour.

Every life matter, be it human, animals, plants. Every living breathing life matter.

My husband and I, as travelers, always try to respect the cultures, practices, beliefs of the people of our travel destinations. We try to blend in with the people out there, to experience their lifestyles, to look at life from a different glass. We try to empathize with others, with nature, with our surroundings, every time we travel. I believe that is one of the primitive surviving skills a traveler should master.

So then WHY cannot we practice the same in the society we live in? Why cannot we respect others, their wishes, their skin colour, their religion, their beliefs, their LIFE?

The question ‘WHY’ is not limited to a particular race or a religion. This is a common issue to every living, breathing species on earth. That we, Humans, do not respect anyone. No one at all, not even their own species.

Even as travelers, we see that fellow travelers sometimes violate these boundaries. They take what belongs to others and leave what belongs to them. When would we ever learn to RESPECT?

I, as a Sri Lankan, lived 26 years of my life in an ethnic war situation in our Country. During my entire childhood, we were brought up to live with cautious, with fear, in every step of our life. Even though I lived in Colombo, it was not much different from a border line village sometimes, because we also experienced bomb explosions, firing situations, continuous presence of Army personals, sudden security check-ups. Every citizen in this country despite their race or religion were victims of this war for 26 years. We all lost someone we loved, someone we knew to this war. What was the lesson I learnt after 26 years? People still don’t understand how to respect others.

The movement of ‘Black lives matter’ is only a scratch of the surface which emerged in America. There are numerous unnoticed, unnamed struggles like these that each and every one of us face everyday, with different faces. #Metoo movement, #womenempowerment #righttolife movement are only a few names out of 127 movements listed in Wikipedia.

The actual problem is much more deeper and much more vicious.The sooner we understand this and take action, better the chances of human survival in future.

Empathize more with others, agree to disagree, respect each other’s boundaries, just know that a day will come when we will all leave this life with empty hands. So, make everyday count, keep good memories. Make your every decision matter.