The winning essay in full

I remembered being in a state of great excitement when the school had eventually chosen me to be the representative in a national speech contest.

The speech was impromptu; the topic was unpredictable. Each competitor would be given five minutes for preparation before making an actual speech on the stage in front of three honourable judges. In fact, there was only one topic which would remain unrevealed until a certain student’s turn to prepare before the contest.

I’d been finally led into another room for preparation. There, I swiftly turned the paper over to see the topic. 

“One fine day when all conflicts are solved would bring great contentment to humans; thus, how can humans ever live peacefully nowadays when terrorism, disasters, and corruption never seem to have diminished?”

It was long, analytical, and rather judicious. Unable to lose my nerve, I immediately started to assemble my ideas.

The longer the world exists, the more difficulties mankind has to face, both from nature and from our own disputes. Apart from natural disasters that disturb us, people fail to live happily in peace and unity because of our differences. 

Natural disasters are manifestly unavoidable. The only thing we manage to do for the Earth is to help maintain her balance such as reducing activities which damage our planet, and foresting. Still, it is difficult to gain back what has been lost. 

Conflicts among humanity occur on account of the differences, which are found mainly in these aspects: economic, political, and social and cultural. There are theories indicating the ways to end them; but, it can’t be more conspicuous that they are almost impossible to be practised. 

Starting with economic problems, since each country doesn’t possess the same kind and amounts of resources, it happens that certain types of resources aren’t sufficient within lands. When everyone is struggling to satisfy his needs, competitions take place, and follows by disagreements and conflicts which ultimately result in violence. Economic theorist Vladimir Lenin proclaimed that the major cause of conflicts among countries comes from economy. The blatant example is the conflict between the French and Germans over Alsace-Lorraine, a land fertile in coal and iron ore which are necessary for industrial development. 

Political conflicts are enormous issues found in almost every country. People with different political views can rise up against one another, cause violence, or even take away lives of those who disagree. We hate to be among people whose ideals are dissimilar. This kind of conflict can even cause the separation in land and territories such as the conflicts between North and South Korea, the creation of the Berlin Wall, and the rest. Political tension is also the major contribution to Cold War. 

Conflicts concerning with society and cultures are those about religions, ethnic groups and social statuses. There had been several religious wars going on in our history: the French Wars of Religion, the Crusades, etc. All battles resulted in innumerable victims being slaughtered. People have strong faiths in their religions; and as mentioned earlier, differences in faiths cause disagreement, which is quite miserable because religions teach us to be good and form a peaceful world. I believe the point is that men have failed to accept differences.

Likewise, the diversity in ethnic groups can also instigate wars, such as the one between the Sinhalese and Tamils in Sri Lanka, the Arab-Israeli conflict, the Holocaust where a significant number of Jews were exterminated during World War II. Another big difference can be found in one’s social status, for it has contributed to his attitudes. His civic value, experiences, and education were also determined by his position in the society. Wealthy people who could afford high education and indigent citizens in rural areas had a propensity to have dissimilar experiences and views on things. When people are of different experiences and perspectives, it will be difficult for them to understand one another. 

After discerning the causes of conflicts, here comes the solution. “Men need morality and ethics.” Moreover, any measure designed to disentangle the mess will be futile if people lack decency. Even the best solving plan can easily turn into garbage or the contribution plan to corruption and disagreement. Aiming for themselves rather than society and general public, bad people seek for chances to gain benefits, take advantages of everything, and spread out rumours to stir up people again. 

Socrates, a Greek philosopher, once heralded, “He who knows what good is will do good,” which can be interpreted that the right insight leads to the right action. Only he who does right can be a virtuous man. ‘Doing good’ is what is expected from mankind, but the question is how the right insight can be developed. If people build right understanding, they will do right things. When we do wrong, it’s because we don’t know any better, and we wrongly comprehend things. Criminals won’t commit any crimes if they have better solutions and the ‘real’ ideas of how evil it is to do so. So far, most men have gradually lost their sense of perceiving virtues.

Those are the reasons why humanity can never have a bright day in the middle of today’s riots. In 1516, Utopia, the work of fiction by Thomas More, was published, introducing the idea of a perfect society. However, it is ultimately unreachable. Utopia can never exist unless every human is ‘enlightened,’ which is sadly impossible. 

I was brutally honest when I said that terrorism, disasters, and corruption could never be permanently vanished. There was no peace for humans unless we started to realise and maintain right understanding, which, if possible, would not be happening soon. No, we didn’t, don’t, and will not have a one fine day.

It was after the competition when I was waiting for my father that one of the judges approached me. He was an immaculately-groomed man of indefinite age. His action was kind although his voice was rather impersonal. He was about to leave, but found me and stopped by for a conversation. 

“You did great today,” he complimented cheerfully. “The detail is precise. Very extraordinary.”

“Thank you,” I beamed. I didn’t win. I thought I would, but I didn’t

“Not many students can come up with such information,” he continued. “Your speech is excellent.”

But not excellent enough to win, I thought. I was curious about the winner’s speech, but too shy to ask. Luckily, this gentleman was a mind reader as well.

“The winner has a very similar concept to yours. He talked about how we failed to live peacefully because of the conflicts from nature and mankind,” he began. “No offence, I think your speech is pessimistic. You say there’s no one fine day for us. You don’t give humans a chance. It tells me you’ve lost faith in humans.”

I remained speechless. 

“But the winner stated that everything can be fixed. As for natural disasters, we can still live in peace if we care to help one another. When our friends are in trouble, we help. We donate money and things to people who suffer from disasters. We are being generous, and that’s a step to peace. 

“He also said that the first move to end the conflicts started from oneself. Don’t wait for others to improve. A person needs to go ahead and take his action by doing best on your duties. For instance, a police will unconditionally arrest every criminal no matter how rich or powerful he is. The government will govern the country with fairness. A civilian exercises his right by voting in an election. If everyone follows his duties, together the perfect society is formed. Some people act and talk awfully, but we don’t have to be like them. When everything seems wrong, even one person can make a change. Despite what others do, we can have our fine days to ourselves if we think good, talk good, and do good.”

It was no doubt why he had been a winner. He was right in every way. His speech was powerful, and filled with hopes. What he said was feasible. How could I overlook such thing – starting fixing from myself by having a sense of duty? I realised that it seemed minute, yet the result was gigantic.

I thanked the judge whose gaze and smile were pure sincere. From that moment, I knew I could earn my one fine day. 

A few minutes later, my father arrived. I got in the car and greeted him.

“So how was today?” he asked.

I, grinning at myself, told him in honesty, “It was definitely a one fine day.”

 

The Nation, Nation Junior, the Phuket Gazette, and CityLife Chiang Mai organised the 7th Junior IMPAC Dublin Literary Awards for Thailand 2010/2011, supported by the Embassy of Ireland, Property Care Services (Thailand), and Kerry Group. We will be printing all the winning essays, starting this week. 

The winning essays as well as the final shortlist can also be viewed at www.nationmultimedia.com and www.247friend.net.