Newspaper Page Text
THE CHAMPION, THURSDAY, JANUARY 10 -16, 2019
PAGE 7B
WORLD
Continued From Page 6
will impact the community
and world in some way. Each
of us is therefore responsible
for our community and world.
Eveiy person we meet and eveiy
conversation we have, we learn
something new. As we are living
in a melting pot, to understand
and respect diversity is the first
step to have a balanced pot or
a better community. We were
all given pollution-free hearts
and minds when we were born,
so let’s take one step at a time
to retain or repair our hearts
and minds as an innocent
child to treat people right, love
people, trust people, and forgive
people. We need to teach our
children universal acceptance
and constantly remind others to
practice such refinement by our
own actions.
Ke: Practice strategic
defiance, civil disobedience.
If something looks wrong to
you, step up, speak up, ask hard
questions, especially of elected
officials, all of whom live quite
well on our dime. Don’t just be
a disgruntled bystander: silence
becomes complicity. Check out a
great book by Stephane Hessel
called Indignez Vous! Silence
and passivity and complacency
can kill as many innocents
as Fascists with guns. Those
Axis nations of WWII had no
historical references for where
their leaders were taking them
— but we do, because we sent
an entire generation of boys to
fight Fascists and Nazis. Why are
some of us now embracing those
values.
Semmes: Although its au
thorship is in question, there is
a phrase that looms large when
considering what one person
can do to make the world a bet
ter place: “Be kind, for everyone
you meet is fighting some great
battle” Simple acts of kindness,
performed one at a time, speak
to Mother Teresa’s belief that
we can’t, as individuals, fix all
the world’s problems. We can
only address the challenges im
mediately in front of us, but to do
so would change the world...one
small step at the time.
WHAT’S TOPS ON YOUR
PRA YER/WISH LIST FOR
2019?
Bennafield: I pray for
wisdom, understanding, healthy
strong families, awesome
relationships, safety and
contentment in our world,
countiy, state, county and
neighborhoods. And I pray that
all of our churches and places
of faith come together in prayer
to encourage members and
congregants to get involved and
make 2019 one of our best years
yet. Finally, I pray for greater
faith so that we can see and have
the things hoped for that are
presently unseen.
Chang: I wish all to be
healthy, happy, safe and loved.
I wish all can spread more love,
show a little more compassion,
be a little more tolerant, be a
little less greedy, and share joy
and happiness to all. Finally, I
wish all to experience the true
happiness that comes from
giving rather than receiving. To
live in a better world and a better
community starts with being a
better individual. Fet’s all tiy
to improve ourselves first and
influence others with our true
heart and spirit.
Ke: Fet’s move the “policy-
design needle” towards making
child well being a top-3 national
priority. If we want humanity to
thrive, we have to understand
they ’re all our kids. We need to
take better care of them, from
prenatal until they launch their
careers, and we need to get
those 14,000-plus migrant kids
out of those border concentra
tion camps. We should stop
warehousing children in refugee
camps, where their educations
are interrupted for years. No
more school shootings. It makes
no sense that teachers have to
work 2.5 jobs just to scrape
by when hedge fund managers
game the system (carried-interest
loophole) and C-suites drive
their companies into the ground,
then make off with millions.
Secure CHIP funding and never
again use it as politicized barter
ing chip for partisan skirmishes
in Congress. Invest in interna
tional-education programming
for our kids, because the world’s
getting smaller. Make college
more affordable, more acces
sible. We have a huge military
arsenal, but we defund our chil
dren’s opportunities—and then
employers complain about the
quality of the workforce. When
you neglect your gardens, you
can’t expect a good harvest.
Semmes: Peace and love...on
the world stage, in our national
conversations and in my own
soul. I can’t think of anything
more important.
