YOUR CHANCE TO WRITE TO THE NATION!
Dear Future Children,
You are the true forgotten people of my generation; your shadows seen only occasionally when someone dares look down. You are the burdened recipients of my mistakes. The rivers are black now, filled with old coke cans that I left there all those years ago. And the trees; all were cleared to feed my ideals of a better life. The progress that I was told to believe in, like it was a faith, a religion, a god. And I bought it, every single word of it, ignoring your shadows for fear of guilt, or ignorance, or something.
You had a right that I stole from you. You had the right to this world, to drink water that still had life unsullied by toxic chemicals, nuclear waste, or genetic pollution. You had the right to walk amongst untamed nature and to feel the awe that comes when we suddenly lock eyes with a wild beast; to wake up in the morning and let the world amaze you, like a child seeing for the first time. But all I have left you with is a cloud of smoke blanketing this great land. There were trees, and great lakes. From the snow capped heights of Mt Kilimanjiro and Mt Ruapehu to the depths of the Angel falls, and Lake Tekapo. Icebergs once moved through the mountainside and there was a spirit of adventure in each day. Great eagles soared through the air, whales swam through the seas, and lions roamed the land.
Stories of what was, is all that is left. The mountainside is barren, burnt soil baked by the suns fierce hand. I can’t look you in the eyes as my elders looked at me, because I stole something from you that I can’t give back. I took it because I didn’t think not to. I took your life for granted, and played your time here in your absence. I ignored your screams for life because I didn’t know what I could do. Gandhi wrote that even the best of men end up with blood on their hands when they forget to question the legitimacy of their law. It is your blood that is on my hands now, because I forgot to question. I forgot to read, and to write, to speak up and fight. I never knew just how much was at stake.
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WRITE A LETTER TO THE NATION
Dear New Zealand : Get Thinking. Get Writing. Get Heard.
This is your opportunity to have your thoughts and passions, concerns and convictions published in a book titled ‘Dear New Zealand ’. Write a letter on either cultural identity/diversity, environmental sustainability, international relations or social justice. Our country needs to hear your voice on these urgent and crucial issues.
Pass on this opportunity to your friends, family and networks, anyone between the ages of 15-30 years.
Submissions close on the 30th November 2006.
www.dearnewzealand.org
Email: info@dearnewzealand.org
“We must become the change we wish to see in this world.” - Mahatma Gandhi
