Sivani Babu

It’s 10:30 on a summer night in Cambria, California, and I am standing on the Moonstone Beach Boardwalk, looking out at the sea. Thunderous waves crash onto the beach below, while, behind me, the lights from various hotels, restaurants, and streetlamps spill across the street, refracting and reflecting in the fog.

The war in Sri Lanka was not a fair “war.” In my opinion, it was the wiping out of a whole ethnic group. I think the Sri Lankan government was wrong for killing millions of innocent Tamil people just because they wanted rights to have their political representation in the government in their own country. The Sri Lankan civil war was between the Tamil Eelam of Sri Lanka and the Singhalese people (the Sri Lankan government). It was a civil war that went from July of 1983 to May of 2009.

Good and bad, life and death — now especially, polar extremes threaten to set our world ablaze. But even when surrounded by charred ruins, discovery beckons. Because where others might find an elegy, we see the potential to nourish the ground beneath our feet. In the summer 2021 issue of Hidden Compass, we bring you stories of hope emerging out of the ashes.