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Pastimes : Don't Ask Rambi -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Grainne who wrote (10644)	5/22/1998 1:42:00 PM
From: Rambi	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 71178

Not grim--sad and haunting and pertinent. "I think we need to ask ourselves, what kind of despair drives children to this kind of violence, what kind of lack of hope or sense of abandonment . . . drives them to make this kind of terrible choice." LAst weekend was the yearly Global Elementary Model United Nations conference. AS I think I've probably bragged, CW was the Secretary General this year and Ammo was co-chair of the ITU committee. For three days, hundreds of children, including delegations from Mexico and from Russia, came together to discuss the world's problems and debate resolutions. Dr. Robert Muller, who was an Asst. Sec Gen. at one time, spoke to the children. He asked CW for a statement from the conference to take with him this week when he met with Gorbachev. CW's closing remarks to the Assembly were filled with excitement for what he had experienced--the feeling that they were making a difference and that they could make a difference in the future. I quote from his closing remarks to the Assembly: We all had a lot of fun--which is great--but something which kind of humbles the spirit is to remember that all of the figures and statistics of illiteracy, poverty, human rights problems, and worse even death, represent real people. The problems are real, and the world is troubled. A lot of people are really in denial about that, but it's something that you all--who have debated and researched the topics, the problems--now realize is true. The fact that all of you are able to understand and communicate with each other about the problems of the world shows that someday, in the future, these problems can be solved. It shows that I, the Secretariat, your sponsors, and everyone involved in GEMUN have accomplished something through all of our work. Your experience here proves that the world will be in competent hands in the future. And, more personally, you have given me something which, in these times of so much pessimism and political ambiguity is hard to come by. You give me Hope. My boys are lucky enough to have discovered that they are a part of something much larger than themselves, that they have a responsibility to others and that they can make a difference. They have hope and they have belief in their own abilities to effect change. But a lot of effort and time has gone into helping them feel that way! ANd I don't know how we can save the children who now are without it, and have no chance of getting it. It comes not from being the recipient of the giving, but from learning how to give, from having some power. When people have no power, they turn to violence to gain some feeling of control over their lives. We have to empower, but we go about it all wrong. Charity and entitlements aren't empowering, they're demeaning. I'm wandering. I guess I feel kinda strongly about all this. And helpless. Although whenever I feel hopeless I look at CW and Ammo and realize they are my effort at changing the world.