Derrwick obituary written by his son
The Island - July 7th 2020
‘For Dr R Derrwik D. de Silva, born 13/07/37; reborn 04/07/20’
Appreciation
July 6, 2020, 9:16 pm
I write this primarily for myself & also for others I hope may
feel the same. I write this in advance of the inevitable & with
eternal grief of prior maternal loss. For me, my father is the last
parent to depart from this universal game of shared time.
I
write this as the son of an original Sri Lankan blessed with unabated
values, morals, ethics and selfsacrificial integrity. My father stems
from generations of Titans, from a value system innate to ancient Sri
Lanka & Sri Lankans, from an age of meaning underpinned by
responsibility, family, love, accountability & selfless assistance,
with an insoluble resolve and impregnable values unadulterated by
neither greed nor money.
He had a heart filled with eternal
goodness, while succeeding in capturing the very essence of humanity in
his patients and anyone who crossed his path. My father was born into
an era where honesty, hard work and honour were the norm and
expectation. He originates from an era of tradition undiluted by
foreign value systems. He and his kind are Titans of his time, Titans of
Sri Lanka and legends of the future.
He was always there
to protect us against all adversity. He devoted his life for us to
survive and dedicated his life to the alleviation of suffering. He
lived a full and happy life reaching old age however shortened by
life’s diseases. As he has passed on his DNA to me, so he and I will
participate in the transfer of our beings to future generations. We
shall live through generations to come and in turn become our own fore
fathers.
I have an unpaid gratitude to my father that I can
only repay through the reciprocity of care, love, affection and
sacrifice I afford my children. I owe everything I am to a man &
woman who never gave up on life, on other people’s lives and on his
family, independent of all adversity. Such men are rare nowadays and
even rarer as fathers.
Our Sri Lankan Titans are dying out.
We are a far cry from the standards of our forefathers and true Sri
Lankan values. Now we live in hope for the resurrection of an
unpolluted Sri Lanka, free from arrogant greed, power grabbing
egocentricity & opportunistic narcissism. If I could, I would have
hoped to have grown up in my country of birth, have married earlier and
had children earlier so that his grandchildren and we, his children
could have enjoyed more of my father for longer, tightening the gaps of
distance and time over generations, now adversely affecting more and
more Sri Lankan families.
I am not saddened by my fathers
passing as I know he will join my mother after 23yrs and hopefully we
may find him again. I find myself in him and find him in my son &
daughter. Modern day Sri Lanka has sunk into tiny statues of
materialism & individualism. We were once a proud gracious people.
As our Titans die out, will we honour the legacy of our ancestors or
will we be distracted by the irrelevance of misguided men, technology
and foreign pollution?
The Dalai Lama said, "Our visit to
this planet is short, so we should use our time meaningfully, which we
can do by helping others wherever possible".
I look forward
to my father’s rebirth, as I know he will again return to the universe
as the cycle of life continues its limitless journey. His rebirth
provides me with great comfort and hope for the future that once again
Sri Lankan Titans may roam our country & beyond spreading joy,
happiness & well-being.
Till we meet again
Dr R R de Silva
