Message from the teacher
I live in Yamaguchi Prefecture, which is located in the western
end of the main island of Japan. Yamaguchi Prefecture is next to
Hiroshima Prefecture and I live in Iwakuni City, which is close to Hiroshima
Prefecture, so I have had many chances to visit Peace Memorial Park in
Hiroshima City since I was a very young girl. I have been thinking
about how we can make peace without terrible weapons like the atomic
bombs used in Hiroshima and Nagasaki.
I learned not only about atomic bombs but also about how cruel people
from any country can be in wars. After learning from books, lectures,
documentary movies, museums, and directly from the people who have been
suffering from wars, I realized the importance that we should communicate
more with people who have different ideas to share compassion to make
a peaceful world on this precious planet in this vast universe.
Hatred, greed, and discrimination seems to be a huge cliff in front of
us all, but in order to make one of the waves that can erode it, I started
a project of exchanging peace messages among students around the world. I think we
need to strengthen the power of the waves to change the world by helping as many
people as possible understand that ignorance and indifference are the causes
to lessen their internal power. I think we can awaken one another by exchanging
ideas to make our world a better place to live together. I believe
that the essence of education is not for getting good grades and entering
famous schools, but for cultivating ourselves to express love for everyone
and take actions so that we can improve everyone’s quality of life.
I am now writing to you to request that we be allowed to share these
messages with your school at levels you believe to be appropriate. My students read
books about wars, starvation, or peace. Some students heard about their
relatives’ experiences during World War II. They wrote about what
they thought about the books or stories, and added their own ideas for
what we should do for peace.
Akamatsu Atsuko
Takamori High School
Email: peacemessagesTakamori@yahoo.co.jp
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