Congratulations to Trinity Hardiman, a 7th grader at West Valley, who was recently named the Lions District 12-N 2017 Peace Essay Winner.  The Maryville Lions Club sponsored the essay contest in which Trinity’s essay was selected.  The essay was also designated as the Multiple District 12 winner, and will be part of the International contest.  Congratulations!

Trinity’s essay, titled “The Future of Peace” is provided below.

Living in Peace, the Future of Peace

World peace:  an ideal of serenity between nations encompasses wars, racism and discrimination that needs to perish.  It is an ideal full of hope, justice and trust, but the possibility of this happening is unknown.  This ideal has been discriminated and laughed at by society – including ourselves.  The questions I bring to your attention are as followed:  is it possible to live in a world full of love and freedom with various personalities?  How can we create a future for our generations to have peace, to rejoice every day from the deliverance from our corrupted world and to achieve, create and celebrate in peace?  How will we keep the peace we all desire and how and is it even possible?

To live in peace is a huge privilege and gift given from God, and we choose to accept it or we choose to throw it away with other dreams and possibilities.  It is not just an ideal; it is a blessing we have received and a very probable future.  We have not lost a generation; our new generation will not bend to doubt and hate.  We will live up to the expectations we were told to show the world.  My ELA teacher explained, “Your decisions shape your future,” and each of us has made our own decisions.  These decisions shape our futures, which slowly form the world we live in and that our children will live in.  The truth is, our ability to live in peace is not solely decided by the rich, the poor, the government or celebrities.  The peace we want is up to our generation, and if we go on protesting, lying, cursing and fighting, we are structuring our lives in hate, but what can we the people do?  We could become better citizens and do what the government expects of us, but that is not all.  You may pick up a coffee cup like any other person, but what’s the duty of real citizen of the world?  Being a leader is a huge duty, and as leaders, kids learn from us.  If we aren’t careful sex, drugs, pleasure and lies may leak through the social media and other things we make available to the world.  Parents can teach kids right from wrong at home, but how much does that help them live in the real world?  But what about morals, values, forgiveness and strength?  The history of our forefathers created is remembered mostly Discrimination between races and gender.  There’s still peace even though its twisted by the world itself.

This is the generation where the seniors will look back and the young will envision a better future which means the elderly did their part in history they hoped to accomplish.  The young will see and they will accomplish what they see.  We the new generation, are given and blessed with wisdom, right now we can live in peace.  We don’t have to wait till we are long gone, the time is now.