This is one of seven papers written by my 9th grade students describing how they feel about President Obama’s visit to Hiroshima and the words he spoke there. I will be posting the remaining six over the weekend. This Independence Day weekend is an excellent time to post these kids’ thoughts — to remind us that America can find greatness not in making war, but in working for peace.
President Obama’s speech in Hiroshima was very meaningful for two reasons. Firstly, he showed the feeling of mourning for the victims who were killed by atomic bombs during World War Two. Secondly, he talked about the contradiction in mankind that makes people destroy each other and how morality has not advanced along with technological advancement. He gave the three examples of religions, nations and science.
He told us that “Every great religion promises a pathway to love and peace and righteousness,” but then he says that some people use their religion as a reason to fight wars. He gave the example of how, “Nations are telling a story that binds people together…,” but people go to war for national pride. And, finally he explained how “Science allows us to communicate across the seas and fly above the clouds,” but technology is also used to make weapons of war.
But while people were developing these things they only thought about standing at the top of the world, and they forgot their moral mind and because of this, so many people have been killed. I wish a moral revolution had occurred side by side with the scientific revolution. People should not be tempted by immediate fortunes or profits and we should not be selfish and we shouldn’t lose our moral mind.
This is one of seven papers written by my 9th grade students describing how they feel about President Obama’s visit to Hiroshima and the words he spoke there. I will be posting the remaining six over the weekend. This Independence Day weekend is an excellent time to post these kids’ thoughts — to remind us that America can find greatness not in making war, but in working for peace.
When I first heard this speech, I remembered the words my great-grandmother once told me; “War is the worst thing to ever happen between humans.” She survived WWII, and I was surprised that President Obama said about the same thing even though he has never experienced war. So, I was reminded how important peace is.
I used to live in Norway and I had a chance to go to the Nobel Peace Prize Museum in Oslo. There were a lot of exhibits of peace prize winners, talking about peace, but each in different way; one wanted peace for children’s education, another for women’s rights, and others for different reasons. There was a display of President Obama there, saying nuclear weapons are a great threat to peace. Nevertheless, even though so many people talk about peace, war does not end. Actually, weapons even worse than the bomb dropped on Hiroshima have been invented.
I think what we must do is to keep on saying what my great grand-mother said to me and what President Obama said to the world. It may seem common, but I’m sure that it is a key step for keeping peace in the world.
This is one of seven papers written by my 9th grade students describing how they feel about President Obama’s visit to Hiroshima and the words he spoke there. I will be posting the remaining six over the weekend. This Independence Day weekend is an excellent time to post these kids’ thoughts — to remind us that America can find greatness not in making war, but in working for peace.
I don’t know why President Obama came to Hiroshima. Some people said it is a wonderful thing, but I don’t think so. He came now, 71 years after the end of World War Two. His visit will not change anything.
One high school student said, “He is just kidding us.” He made some folded paper cranes for symbols of peace, but they are just origami and they can’t do anything. The dead of the war can never come back. Their families’ sadness can never end.
I don’t want President Obama to say I’m sorry because it’s useless and it’s too late. I want a real plan to make the world peaceful. No war any more! I thought that, of course, he had a plan, but I never heard that kind of thing. (Is it just my problem?) I think this is very regrettable.
I don’t know how the war was. Even a lot of adults don’t know about war. If Donald Trump becomes the next American president, maybe there will be another world war. No one I know wants war; we want to live safely and peacefully.
I think we all must learn more about war from many different angles and we must stop any new wars from happening. That is what we should do now and what I want President Obama to do. Nothing will change by just visiting Hiroshima, so I hope that President Obama will do more to show us the right path. One thing his visit taught me is that we have to learn more about war if we want to have peace in the future.
Another September gone and what do you remember, the sultry start or the chilly end? Chances are, whatever the weather, the memories remain in a sentimental refrain. Probably no other month has inspired poets and musicians more than September, the time when the fantasies of summer are abandoned for the realities of autumn. Summer loves depart, fall duties return. This is when the year and life itself transition to a more somber state. Here are some songs that capture the September sentiment.
AUTUMN LEAVES – Joseph Kosma, Johnny Mercer (1947)
The falling leaves drift by the window
The autumn leaves of red and gold
I see your lips, the summer kisses
The sun-burned hands I used to hold
Since you went away the days grow long
And soon I’ll hear old winter’s song
But I miss you most of all my darling
When autumn leaves start to fall
LES FEULLIES MORTES – Joseph Kosma/Jacques Prévert (1945)
SEPTEMBER SONG – Kurt Weill, Maxwell Anderson (1938)
When I was a young man courting the girls
I played me a waiting game
If a maid refused me with tossing curls
While I plied her with tears in lieu of pearls
I’d let the old Earth make a couple of whirls
And as time came around she came my way
As time came around, she came
Oh, it’s a long, long time from May to December
But the days grow short when you reach September
When the autumn weather turns the leaves to flame
One hasn’t got time for the waiting game
Oh, the days dwindle down to a precious few
September, November
And these few precious days I’ll spend with you
These precious days I’ll spend with you
SEPTEMBER OF MY YEARS – J. Van Heusen, S. Cahn (1965)
One day you turn around and it’s summer
Next day you turn around and it’s fall
And the springs and the winters of a lifetime
Whatever happened to them all?
As a man who has always had the wand’ring ways
Now I’m reaching back for yesterdays
‘Til a long-forgotten love appears
And I find that I’m sighing softly
As I near September, the warm September of my years
As I man who has never paused at wishing wells
Now I’m watching children’s carousels
And their laughter’s music to my ears
And I find that I’m smiling gently
As I near September, the warm September of my years
All the golden warm Septembers of my years
SEPTEMBER, IN THE RAIN – Harry Warren/Al Dubin (1937)
The leaves of brown, came tumbling down, remember
That September, in the rain
The sun went out just like a dying ember
That September, in the rain
To every word of love I heard you whisper
All the raindrops seem to play a sweet refrain
Though spring is here, to me it’s still September
That September, in the rain
TRY TO REMEMBER – Harvey Schmidt/Tom Jones (1960)
Try to remember the kind of September
when life was slow and oh so mellow.
Try to remember the kind of September
when grass was green and grain was yellow.
Try to remember the kind of September
when you were a tender and callow fellow,
Try to remember and if you remember then follow.
Try to remember when life was so tender
that no one wept except the willow.
Try to remember when life was so tender
that dreams were kept beside your pillow.
Try to remember when life was so tender
when love was an ember about to billow.
Try to remember and if you remember then follow.
Deep in December it’s nice to remember
although you know the snow will follow.
Deep in December it’s nice to remember
without the hurt the heart is hollow.
Deep in December it’s nice to remember
the fire of September that made us mellow.
Deep in December our hearts should remember and follow.
And just to show September is not all melancholy, here’s one just for fun.
WE CON THE WORLD VIDEO IS STILL AVAILABLE AT LATMA PRODUCTIONS – CLICK THE LOGO
This clever Israeli rip-off of the “We Are the World” production shows how even glossy propaganda can be high-jacked. Love the parody of Bob Dylan at the end.
MIGHT HAVE EXPECTED THIS WOULD BE CENSORED.
Luckily someone had the sense to transcribe the lyrics.
Beyonce claims Haitian heritage as her part of the melting pot, but the American dream girl can hardly improve on the fertile talent of her ancestral island. Here is a glimpse at the musical wealth of Haiti.
“Patriots always talk of dying for their country and never of killing for their country.
– Bertrand Russell“
Older men declare war.
But it is the youth that must fight and die.”
– Herbert Hoover
“The military don’t start wars. Politicians start wars.” – William Westmoreland
“When the rich wage war, it’s the poor who die.”– Jean-Paul Sartre
War is the rich man’s profit,
the politician’s choice,
the youth’s adventure,
the patriot’s anthem,
the family’s tears,
the veteran’s nightmare.
– Monde Dane
“
“The military don’t start wars. Politicians start wars.” – William Westmoreland
