2012 How eventful will it be?

Winner:

Many believe that this year, 2012, the whole world will be destroyed by floods, earthquakes, tsunamis and other mysterious disasters going by various predictions made by different people.

To protect themselves from this misery, these people have been engaged in numerous meritorious activities according to their religions since last year.

I think the world’s end has already started. If we listen to news regularly, all we hear are major disasters and accidents happening in various countries around the world. Such incidents have been on the increse during last year.

The world is filled with many cruel people. Buddhism states that if somebody commits sinful acts he will definitely be punished for those things in any one of his births.

The world’s disasters affect such people very badly most often.

Whether the predictions will come to pass is yet to be seen. However, the only way to protect ourselves is to do good. Listen to the teachings of the Dhamma and work according to it. Follow the path the Buddha taught us. However, do not just practise only to rescue yourselves from any great world disaster, but do so with great reverence and respect for His invaluable teachings.

If you follow the Dhamma, the Dhamma will invariably protect you. This is the Buddhist way of life.

So, we are at the dawn of 2012 - It is time to think seriously and act in piety, all the time.

Amodha Shachiko Kitthangoda,
Grade 8A,
Negombo South International School, Nittambuwa Branch.

Let us not waste time

Winner:

“The best day to accomplish something is the day before tomorrow.” This saying teaches us the value of time. The present world is a fast moving one with people rushing around to complete their work.

Anyone who fails to keep up with this hectic speed becomes a loser.

Therefore in order to achieve our goals in this complex, fast moving society, we must know how to make the best use of our time. Today most people pay very little attention to punctuality. It is a must for anyone who wants to save time. A punctual person saves the time of others as well.

Efficiency is another powerful time saver. However, efficiency does not mean speed. An efficient person achieves many tasks within a short period of time.

Sri Lanka is still a developing country and time is a very important factor to everyone of us. If all of us try to save time and make the best use of it, it will be a great contribution towards the development of the country. Time is precious and we cannot buy back the time we have wasted.

Hansani Muthumali,
Grade 7F,
Holy Cross College, Gampaha.

Our responsibilities as children

Winner:

Learning about our responsibilities at a tender age will certainly help us to live a life that is rewarding not only for ourselves, but also for the society. This fact should prompt us to find out what our responsibilities as children are.

We remain in the care and protection of our parents, teachers and various other elders while we are children. As such our chief responsibility is to respect them and listen to their advice regarding education and conduct. When we do so it will naturally result in a good education and character building.

It will bring great satisfaction to them for having done their duty by us. The greatest wish of our parents, teachers and elders is to see that we turn out to be good citizens in the country and do well in life.

It is therefore our duty to give them this satisfaction by obeying them.

A good education and a good character is the foundation of a successful future. We must always keep in mind our responsibilities as children and not disregard them.

Chinthaka Wanigasekara,
Grade 7E,
Lalith Athulathmudali College, Mt. Lavinia.

Heal the world...

Winner:

In order to make this world a better place we have to fulfil our duties and responsibilities. In this context the family can play a major role in moulding us and creating a suitable environment, to make our world a better place to live in peace and harmony. The family is the first informal educational institute that the child faces. When we live in a family we learn many things; positive values as well as negative values.

If the family values we learn and experience are positive, we will become good citizens and also learn to love and respect family members. The love, affection and respect built within a family not only strengthens the bond between the family members but also help us to respect others in society.

A bond means the attachment between two people or more and so if we have great bonds within a family, we can live together happily.The school is the next place where children learn values and principles. The school helps us to learn different subjects and also cultivate good values, habits and manners. We need all these to live in society. The community and the society we live in can also help to make this world a better place to live in for the future generations.They can do so by living exemplary lives and guiding the children and youth on the correct path.

When we live in a community, we must learn to love each other and respect all races, religions, languages and cultures. We must remember that all belong to the human race even though we speak different languages, practise different religions or have a different skin colour.

If we respect all races and religions it will be very easy for us to make this world a better place to live in peace and harmony.

Nadeeka Kumuduni Ariyarathna,
Grade 11A,
Mt/Weeraparakrama Central College, Yatawatta,Matale.

Impermanency

Winner:

Though the sun rises,
Though the moon sets,
Will it be a newday for everybody?

Though the sun sets,
Though the moon rises,
Will it give hopes of a new day for everybody?

Though the time passes,
Will everybody think about the change?
Yet we must face this change..
This change will eventually lead us to death...

As we are all under
one condition
That is ‘Impermanency’....

Sajitha Tharaka,

Ananda College.

A sprinkle of snow

The skies are grey,
It is so silent and quiet,
You can barely see the sun,
Peeping its head to see if it is time,
Time, to come out and shine.
It’s cold and shivering,
As you get out of bed,
And peep your head through the window.
The first drop of snow,
Gently, touches your head.
You look up to see,
A sprinkle of snow above your head.
Like rain, pouring softly
Not a sound to be heard.
You are breathless
For the beauty of snow.
Each flake, different from another,
Not one the same.
It’s simply amazing,
How the world is full of surprises,
If you look close enough,
You’ll see it all.

Devmi Piyadigama,
The Cambridge School, Doha, Qatar.

A trip to the Zoo

Our school organised to take us to the Dehiwela Zoo for our annual trip.

We went by a special bus and reached the zoo around 9.00 a.m. The tickets were bought at the entrance to the zoo.We, entered the zoo by giving the tickets to the gate-keeper.We first went to the Aquarium section.

Later we had breakfast in a sheltered place which was cool.

We also saw very beautiful birds, lions, monkeys and reptiles.We saw the lovely elephant dance and it was very exciting.

The elephants performed well and the children cheered .We enjoyed our trip to the zoo very much.

Dilki Chamini,
Grade 4,
Wisdom International School, Colombo 12.