Severn Suzuki made that speech in 1992. She was 12 years old. She ended her speech with these words:
At school, even in kindergarten, you teach us how to behave in the world. You teach us not to fight with others, to work things out, to respect others, to clean up our mess, not to hurt other creatures, to share, not be greedy. Then why do you go out and do the things you tell us not to do? Do not forget why you are attending these conferences, who you're doing this for. We are your own children. You are deciding what kind of a world we are growing up in. Parents should be able to comfort their children by saying, "Everything's going to be all right. It's not the end of the world, and we're doing the best we can." But I don't think you can say that to us anymore. Are we even on your list of priorities? My dad always says, "You are what you do, not what you say." Well, what you do makes me cry at night. You grown-ups say you love us, but I challenge you, please, make your actions reflect your words. Thank you.
That was in 1992, some sixteen years ago. Is anybody listening?
The ones who are making the final decisions for us all are not listening.
It would seem so. I wonder if they would be able to make those decisions without us giving them power. Who knows? I suppose I have to say that I hope that they wouldn’t, because otherwise there doesn’t seem to be any hope. Which means we have to assume we’re the ones who make a difference.
This is wonderful, I wish more children could be able to have their say in events like this. I think the world would benefit greatly if young people were allowed to seriously be involved in decision making.
Yes, I agree.
brilliant post and brilliant little girl! Sad no one listens or listened… :awww:
Thank you. I wish that more people were inspired to make the kinds of effort she obviously made travelling so far to that conference and so on. It seems like one of the curses of humanity is apathy. In almost everything, it seems like humans don’t care. Until there’s some news about Britney Spears shaving her head.