Expressions

My impression of Durgeshvari people

Winner

August 15, 2008 was an unforgettable day in my life. It was the day we went on a pilgrimage to Dambadiwa (India). I enjoyed myself a lot throughout the trip. But one particular place we visited called the Durgeshvari Mountain made me so sad. It was the place where ascetic Gautama tortured his body for six years meditating in a small cave without having any food or drink.While we were climbing the mountain, I noticed that there were many poor people along the way, begging. Their clothes were torn, full of dirt and stinking since they couldn’t afford to buy new clothes. They may be having only one dress for their whole life. These people hardly wash themselves.

They have no shelter, no food to eat and no proper place to stay.Why were they born in this manner? Why do they beg? Why don’t people care much about them? The answers for these three questions can be attributed to just one reason. I believe the cause for this may be that they had not respected the teachings of the Buddha during a certain period of time. So, to compensate for their sins, they have been born into poverty and living this manner around Buddhist religious places in this birth. So, I have only these few words to say,

“No one can stop our sins, but I pray day and night to be happy at least in my next birth”.

Chathura Samaraweera,
Grade 7-B
Lyceum International School,
Nugegoda.
 

Protecting public property

Winner

Public property is a common property; it means such property belongs to everyone and is used by everyone. Schools, libraries, buses, trains, roadside taps telephones are a few examples of public property.

We cannot use public property the way we use something that belongs only to us, like our toothbrush or towel. Public property has to be used carefully because it belongs to all.

When we travel by public transport we shouldn’t damage the seats or any other parts of the buses or trains by cutting them or scribbling on them. Keeping our feet on the seats too is not good. Even at school, we should not destroy the desks and chairs and other school property.

We must not dirty the walls by keeping fingerprints or footprints on them or scribling on them. When we go to a library we must not only behave properly, but also take good care of the books we borrow to read. We should not damage the covers or tear off pages, break the chairs and write on tables.

If we protect public property, the younger generation too could use these and also learn to protect these things for the next generation.

Using public property carefully would also help save money. Many people pay taxes to the government and this money is used to maintain public property among many other things. If we damage public property we only waste money that could be used for other development work. So, let’s protect public property for our future generations.

W. Tharaka Vidurangi,
Grade 8-A,
St. Thomas’ Girls High School,
Matara.

Looney Tunes

Bugs on the right,
Daffy on the left,
Having a competition,
About being the best.

Bugs challenging Daffy,
And Daffy challenging Bugs,
Hundred cheers for Bugs,
But many more for Daffy.

Daffy was sad,
Then he became bad,
He tried to kill the bunny,
But failed on each of his plans.

Yusuf Shabbir Sadikot,
Primary 3,
Burhani Serendib School,
Colombo 04.

A gift bonanza for you

Here is some good news. The Junior Observer in collaboration with Richard Trading Company Pvt Ltd, will award gift packs to the five best contributions. Only original articles attested by a parent or teacher will be selected.

Winners will be indicated in the pages, and they can collect their gift packs from the Manager Advertising, Sunday Observer, (Tele:2429361) by producing some form of proof of identity.

Be positive

Winner

Are you always worrying about your future and how weak you are in your studies? Then stop doing so right now. For, you've got a way to show the world who you are by being positive.

Being positive means believing that there is a better way for everything and that you can do anything. After all you've got a brain which is similar to that of the great scientist Albert Einstein and all the other great people. It is how we develop it. So, always be positive and think you can!

If you always think in terms of "I can" and "I will", your mind will get used to it. Then your body will automatically react to what your mind dictates. And finally you'll become great!

Try to make the maximum use of the brain you have been given. Anybody can learn in this world. Always be active and take everything in life as a challenge!

Never waste time, for time is precious. Change yourself totally. First visualise as to who you are and what you should be like and then change yourself for the better. Set a timetable for yourself and try to work according to it.Show the world what you can do.Hurry up and don't waste time!

Faseeha Harthim,
Lyceum International,
Gampaha.

Accounting - my favourite subject

Winner

My favourite subject is Accounting which deals a lot with business. Luca Paciol is considered to be the Father of Accounting.

Accounting decides what amounts of money are, were or will be used in transactions and then presents the information obtained from such transactions in a way that is useful for decision making. Accounting may not require a very high knowledge of mathematics, but you do need to be able to add, subtract, multiply and divide - things you need to be able to do in your daily life anyway. Accounting teaches us many valuable lessons such as punctuality, planning, organising and decision making.In accounting we need to balance what is known as the Double Entry. When it balances, during my lessons I get great satisfaction as this also gives a hint of the accuracy of the exercise we have done. I think it is a good exercise which is also a form of relaxation to our mind. In order to increase the speed, I have to do lots of exercises. I like to learn this interesting subject very much and I wish to be an accountant when I grow up.

Kusal Weraniyagoda,
Grade 8,Leeds International
School,Galle.

A journey to a temple

I visited the Dummaladeniya temple with my friends and two teachers recently. We went there by van. When we got down from the van, we noticed the High Priest of the temple standing near the gate. He promptly invited us to the temple. We saw many big trees in the temple garden which was very neat and clean. We sat under a tree and watched the birds. Then later, we entered a big hall where many statues were kept. We offered flowers to the Buddha. The bhikkhu was very kind to us. We spent about an hour in the temple. It was a quiet serene place.

W. Achini Sugandika
Fernando,
Grade 6-E, Holy Family
BMV,Wennappuwa.