Sunday, November 19, 2006
Out of the Mouths of Babes
The following article appeared on Patricia Lay-Dorsey's blog(www.windchimewalker.blogspot.com) It is a talk originally given in Kenya in 2002 at the U. N. Summit on Climate Change. It is a moving reminder of the need for all of us to heed the world's problems and t0 find rapid solutions to the challenges now facing our globe.
Are these the "New Children"?
Appeal from a 13 year old
By Grace Lee Boggs
Michigan Citizen, Nov. 12-18. 2006
Delegates now meeting in Kenya at a UN Summit on Climate Change should revisit this appeal at the 2002 Earth Summit in Brazil:
"I'm Severn Suzuki speaking for the Environmental Children's organization. We're a group of twelve-and thirteen-year-olds from Canada. We raised all the money ourselves to come 6000 miles to tell you adults you must change your ways. I'm here to speak on behalf of the starving children around the world and for the countless animals dying across this planet.
I'm afraid to go out in the sun now because of the holes in the ozone. I'm afraid to breathe the air because I don't know what chemicals are in it. I used to go fishing in Vancouver with my dad until a few years ago we found the fish full of cancers.
In my life, I have dreamt of seeing the great herds of wild animals, jungles and rainforests full of birds and butterflies, but now I wonder if they will even exist for my children to see.
I'm only a child and I don't have all the solutions, but I want you to realize, neither do you!
You don't know how to fix the holes in our ozone layer.
You don't know how to bring salmon back up a dead stream.
You don't know how to bring back an animal now extinct.
And you can't bring back forests that once grew where there is now desert.
If you don't know how to fix it, please stop breaking it!
You may be delegates of your governments, business people, organizers, reporters or politicians - but really you are mothers and fathers, brothers and sisters, aunts and uncles, and all of you are somebody's child.
I'm only a child. Yet I know we are all part of a family, five billion strong, in fact, 30 million species strong and we all share the same air, water and soil. Borders and governments will never change that. I'm only a child. Yet I know we're all in this together and should act as one single world towards one single goal. In my anger I'm not blind, and in my fear I'm not afraid to tell the world how I feel.
In my country we make so much waste, we buy and throw away, and yet northern countries will not share with the needy. Even when we have more than enough, we are afraid to lose some of our wealth, afraid to share.
In Canada, we live the privileged life, with plenty of food, water and shelter. We have watches, bicycles, computers and TV sets. Two days ago here in Brazil we were shocked when we spent some time with children living on the streets. One child told us: 'I wish I was rich. If I were, I would give all the street children food, clothes, medicine, shelter and love and affection.'
If a child on the street who has nothing is willing to share, why are we who have everything still so greedy? I can't stop thinking that these children are my age, that it makes a tremendous difference where you are born, that I could be one of those children living in the favellas of Rio. I could be a child starving in Somalia, a victim of war in the Middle East or a beggar in India.
I'm only a child yet I know if all the money spent on war was spent on ending poverty and finding environmental answers, what a wonderful place this earth would be!
You teach us to behave in the world. Not to fight with others, to work things out, to respect others, to clean up our mess, not to hurt other creatures, to share, to not be greedy
Then why do you go out and do the things you tell us not to do?
Parents should be able to comfort their children by saying 'Everything's going to be alright.' 'We're doing the best we can' and 'It's not the end of the world.' But I don't think you can say that to us any more. My father always says 'You are what you do, not what you say.' Well, what you do makes me cry at night. You grownups say you love us. Please make your actions reflect your words."Patricia also reprinted this recent article from the Washington Post:
US Is Top Purveyor on Weapons Sales List
By Bryan Bender
The Boston Globe
Monday 13 November 2006
Washington - The United States last year provided nearly half of the weapons sold to militaries in the developing world, as major arms sales to the most unstable regions - many already engaged in conflict - grew to the highest level in eight years, new US government figures show.
According to the annual assessment, the United States supplied $8.1 billion worth of weapons to developing countries in 2005 - 45.8 percent of the total and far more than second-ranked Russia with 15 percent and Britain with a little more than 13 percent.
Arms control specialists said the figures underscore how the largely unchecked arms trade to the developing world has become a major staple of the American weapons industry, even though introducing many of the weapons risks fueling conflicts rather than aiding long-term US interests.
The report was compiled by the nonpartisan Congressional Research Service.
"We are at a point in history where many of these sales are not essential for the self-defense of these countries and the arms being sold continue to fuel conflicts and tensions in unstable areas," said Daryl G. Kimball , executive director of the nonpartisan Arms Control Association in Washington. "It doesn't make much sense over the long term."
Taken together, these articles point out that our spiritual revolution (which I believe in) is occurring in the midst of worldwide failure to grasp the implications of our current policies. The children perceive the danger. The adults must also listen and change. Many have. The need is great for the rest of us to open our eyes also.
Are these the "New Children"?
Appeal from a 13 year old
By Grace Lee Boggs
Michigan Citizen, Nov. 12-18. 2006
Delegates now meeting in Kenya at a UN Summit on Climate Change should revisit this appeal at the 2002 Earth Summit in Brazil:
"I'm Severn Suzuki speaking for the Environmental Children's organization. We're a group of twelve-and thirteen-year-olds from Canada. We raised all the money ourselves to come 6000 miles to tell you adults you must change your ways. I'm here to speak on behalf of the starving children around the world and for the countless animals dying across this planet.
I'm afraid to go out in the sun now because of the holes in the ozone. I'm afraid to breathe the air because I don't know what chemicals are in it. I used to go fishing in Vancouver with my dad until a few years ago we found the fish full of cancers.
In my life, I have dreamt of seeing the great herds of wild animals, jungles and rainforests full of birds and butterflies, but now I wonder if they will even exist for my children to see.
I'm only a child and I don't have all the solutions, but I want you to realize, neither do you!
You don't know how to fix the holes in our ozone layer.
You don't know how to bring salmon back up a dead stream.
You don't know how to bring back an animal now extinct.
And you can't bring back forests that once grew where there is now desert.
If you don't know how to fix it, please stop breaking it!
You may be delegates of your governments, business people, organizers, reporters or politicians - but really you are mothers and fathers, brothers and sisters, aunts and uncles, and all of you are somebody's child.
I'm only a child. Yet I know we are all part of a family, five billion strong, in fact, 30 million species strong and we all share the same air, water and soil. Borders and governments will never change that. I'm only a child. Yet I know we're all in this together and should act as one single world towards one single goal. In my anger I'm not blind, and in my fear I'm not afraid to tell the world how I feel.
In my country we make so much waste, we buy and throw away, and yet northern countries will not share with the needy. Even when we have more than enough, we are afraid to lose some of our wealth, afraid to share.
In Canada, we live the privileged life, with plenty of food, water and shelter. We have watches, bicycles, computers and TV sets. Two days ago here in Brazil we were shocked when we spent some time with children living on the streets. One child told us: 'I wish I was rich. If I were, I would give all the street children food, clothes, medicine, shelter and love and affection.'
If a child on the street who has nothing is willing to share, why are we who have everything still so greedy? I can't stop thinking that these children are my age, that it makes a tremendous difference where you are born, that I could be one of those children living in the favellas of Rio. I could be a child starving in Somalia, a victim of war in the Middle East or a beggar in India.
I'm only a child yet I know if all the money spent on war was spent on ending poverty and finding environmental answers, what a wonderful place this earth would be!
You teach us to behave in the world. Not to fight with others, to work things out, to respect others, to clean up our mess, not to hurt other creatures, to share, to not be greedy
Then why do you go out and do the things you tell us not to do?
Parents should be able to comfort their children by saying 'Everything's going to be alright.' 'We're doing the best we can' and 'It's not the end of the world.' But I don't think you can say that to us any more. My father always says 'You are what you do, not what you say.' Well, what you do makes me cry at night. You grownups say you love us. Please make your actions reflect your words."Patricia also reprinted this recent article from the Washington Post:
US Is Top Purveyor on Weapons Sales List
By Bryan Bender
The Boston Globe
Monday 13 November 2006
Washington - The United States last year provided nearly half of the weapons sold to militaries in the developing world, as major arms sales to the most unstable regions - many already engaged in conflict - grew to the highest level in eight years, new US government figures show.
According to the annual assessment, the United States supplied $8.1 billion worth of weapons to developing countries in 2005 - 45.8 percent of the total and far more than second-ranked Russia with 15 percent and Britain with a little more than 13 percent.
Arms control specialists said the figures underscore how the largely unchecked arms trade to the developing world has become a major staple of the American weapons industry, even though introducing many of the weapons risks fueling conflicts rather than aiding long-term US interests.
The report was compiled by the nonpartisan Congressional Research Service.
"We are at a point in history where many of these sales are not essential for the self-defense of these countries and the arms being sold continue to fuel conflicts and tensions in unstable areas," said Daryl G. Kimball , executive director of the nonpartisan Arms Control Association in Washington. "It doesn't make much sense over the long term."
Taken together, these articles point out that our spiritual revolution (which I believe in) is occurring in the midst of worldwide failure to grasp the implications of our current policies. The children perceive the danger. The adults must also listen and change. Many have. The need is great for the rest of us to open our eyes also.
