Make a Change for the New Year

Kids think that the world is all games, cookies and rainbows but it is not. Everyday people die from natural causes but many are killed, shot or stabbed or things worse than you can imagine. When children are little their parents hide the truth from them until they are old enough to understand. When you start middle school or maybe younger, you start to hear the word terrorist and suicide bombings. You might try to pretend that it isn’t real but deep down you know it is. You start to hear the word racism and see it happen. Politics comes into your life. 9/11, the 6,000,000 Jews that were killed in World War 2, the nuke that was dropped on Japan. All the terrible things that happen come into your life. It might overwhelm you, it might scare you but don’t, don’t let it take over your life. Don’t let it drive you into a deep dark hole, don’t push friends and family away. Now that you know that there are murders out there you need your friends and family most. Don’t bottle up your feelings, share them with people you trust. Most importantly don’t let anything like it happen again. We are the children of the next generation that is going to make a difference. We are going to be the leaders of the world in 10-20 years and I know that I will do the best I can to stop the bad that is out there.

How will you?

My name is Gavriel Hammer. I’m 13 years old and I live in Israel. I’m a Jew. Israel is surrounded by people that want us dead and they don’t hide it. This winter a wave of terror came out of nowhere and has had people living in fear since. Now that it is a new year I want there to be change. In the old city in Jerusalem there is the Western Wall and people say if you put a note in it, it will come true. That’s a pile of BS. I have five notes in there that all say, “World peace, no more wars.” And as you can see that hasn’t happened. People have protested to stop the terrorism but it hasn’t helped.

This whole long thing that I’m writing is to show that if you want something to happen you need power. Power doesn’t come from money it come by being united. It is terrible but true that people that hate each other only come together at crises, but why can’t we just be nice to each other all the time. I’m going to end this small speech by saying this: A Jew, A Muslim and a Christian walked into a coffee shop and had a cup of coffee together because they are decent human beings.