“Before one becomes a leader, one must become a professional.Before becoming a professional,one must become a good citizen.Part of your life belongs to this nation.If you are to pay tribute to those who were ready to lay their lives for this nation,then I ask that you prepare yourselves to giving a small part of your lives to this country”, observed President Mahinda Rajapaksa at the historic Buddhist educational institute of the country, Ananda College, Colombo this morning.
The President was the Chief Guest at a ceremony organised by the College to pay tribute to several former Anandians who played a key role in the liberation of the nation from LTTE terrorism. Among those distinguished men were Prime Minister and Deputy Defence Minister, Ratnasiri Wickremenayake, Defence Secretary, Gotabhaya Rajapaksa, Army Commander, Gen.Sarath Fonseka, Navy Commander,Admiral Wasantha Karannagoda,Director General,Civil Defence Force,Rear Admiral Sarath Weerasekere and second tier commanders Maj.Gen.Jagath Dias,Maj.Gen.Kamal Guneratne,Brigadier Prasanna Silva and Brigadier Chagi Gallage.
Paying greater tribute to these valiant men, President Rajapaksa recalled the days of Defence Secretary,Gotabhaya Rajapaksa and Gen.Sarath Fonseka’s days in the famous Vadamarachchi battle against the LTTE and added that Read Admiral Sarath Weerasekere served on dvoras for many years.”All these valiant men served for long and engaged the terrorists’, the President stressed.
He further noted that having a righteous objective was not enough for a good leader as one has to stick to it and dedicate his life for its realisation.”The leader who abandons these objectives destroys both lives and nation’, said the President.
He told the present day Anandians-” My dear children,when selecting a team,one cannot always have the best men and women for the job.There are no perfect people.Yet, the leader should have the ability to train and develop people who share his vision.’.
President Rajapaksa in an array of lessons said-”Nothing is impossible in this world.The reason for our failures is the abandoning of righteous objectives believing them as unrealistic.There are only difficult tasks ahead of us but not the impossible.Its not the way of a good leader to give up just because it is difficult to achieve the task.Therefore, never give up on good objectives,just because it is difficult”.
Courtesy: Government Information Department
