John Paul High School boy wins ‘Letters for Peace’

Press, 2 June 1986, Page 10

John Paul High School boy wins ‘Letters for Peace’

A 15-year-old pupil of John Paul II High School in Greymouth, John O’Sullivan, who wrote a letter to the Soviet leader Mr Gorbachev, has won the district “Letters • for Peace” competition, and his prize is a $7OO Sharp electronic typewriter. The district competition, which covered the top half of the South Island, was sponsored by “The Press” and the Rotary Club District 997, and was part of an international competition for young people between the ages of 14 and 18. Those entering had to write to a world leader, making positive suggestions about furthering world peace. John’s letter to Mr Gorbachev will now be entered in an international regional competition, for which the winner will get SUSISOO, ($2725) to use for education, and

a chance to win a further SUSIO,OOO ($18,200) in the final.

The judge of the district competition was Mr Malcolm Templeton, the director of the Institute of Policy Studies, in Wellington, formerly head of the Prime Minister’s Department and a representative at the United Nations.

Mr Templeton said John’s letter was clear, simple and sincere? The letters to world leaders should be persuasive, without a tone of moral superiority. A letter lecturing about the deficiencies of another country’s actions or policies, and contrasting these with the rightness of the policies followed by New Zealand, was not likely to have the intended effect, he said. John’s letter was aihong 16 chosen for the final judging. This is what he wrote:

Dear Premier Gorbachev

I am writing to you in the hope that my letter may in some small way, change the world I am living in, by sharing with you some of my ideas and views, but above all hopes, my hopes for peace.

I am a High School student, one of the millions of 14 to 15 year olds around the world, living in New Zealand, Australia, Europe, Asia, Africa and the U.S.S.R. I am no different in my hopes and aspirations than any other of my age, and I share the same basic problems and fears that my generation holds. People my age cannot yet fully grasp the concept of total nuclear destruction of this world we call Earth; our home; and we do not want to try and rationalise such an idea. We still hold on to the

hope that we may finish school, get employed, raise a family and live out our lives usefully and productively. But with every new day these hopes for us are dying, overshadowed by a possible nuclear Armageddon. I am not an idealist, and I cannot grasp the sanity behind the Arms Race. I am like most of my age, not pro or anti anything but for life. We of my generation want to live and carry out our dreams. We want to meet people our own age from around the globe, and share our hopes, exchange our ideas, our dreams and fears. We — the youth of today — are the world’s future. We will be the leaders of tomorrow, and the ones I hope, that will build bridges of understanding, knock down the walls of prejudice and light a torch of hope for mankind, that will never die or be extinguished. We

want to meet people from other lands and countries and from them form our own opinions, not from second-hand fears and prejudices.

I have never met a Russian, and like many of my age, do not want to accept pre-formed ideas about the U.S.S.R. and her people, or any other country for that matter. I want to form my own views from first-hand contact, and the sharing of ideas.

For, through talking comes understanding, and from understanding comes trust; trust that we can build a lasting peace upon.

My generation does not believe that any people are evil, or that any culture is Inferior, just human, with the limitations and responsibilities that word carries.

, There is an old saying “that to err is human, to forgive divine,” and as humans we have erred, history bears witness to the fact, and we must learn to forgive for past mistakes now, and start afresh.

The young of the world will give us the fresh start.

You, Premier, must

help to make this happen; meet with other world leaders and encourage Youth Exchanges. Let young people of your nation meet and talk with people of the West; let them go overseas to build bridges of friendship and understanding with other countries, to spread the message of peace, and let young people of the West visit the U.S.S.R., giving them a chance to meet and share ideas and hopes of peace with young Russians, to learn that they too have fears and dreams. Let them discover them as people, not as prejudiced concepts and stereotypes. You already now share with the world, Premier, your country’s rich culture, now begin to share your youth and your country’s people, and the world will follow your example, and through sharing will gain peace. Yours faithfully, John O’Sullivan.