Speaking Out

I found this article in the Philippine Star by Patricia Evangelista (speaker of The Filipino Diaspora) very interesting, heart warming if you may. I'm not the type who goes for such "nice" speeches (I'm more into berating ones), but the winning speech by Kevin Punzalan of DLSU was very uh - inspired. Anyway, here's an excerpt from Patricia Evangelista's article, where she summarizes parts of Kevin Punzalan's speech:

    He spoke about going to an exchange program in Japan, and being billeted in the same hotel with teenagers from all over the world. In the usual round of shaking hands and making friends, he met another young man, this one from Malaysia. They talked about many things, academics, family, and finally, religion. It was a discussion of their differences. Eventually, the young man talked about his fundamentalist learnings. At the end of the world, he claimed, Allah would bless their race as they rise up against all infidels.
    Kevin took it as a joke. "Does it mean," he asked laughingly, "that you'll kill me at the end of the world?"
    The Muslim boy answered, without batting an eyelesh. "Yes."
    The point of Kevin's story was simple. Differences and diversity may make the world a more interesting place, but it is intolerance of these differences that causes such discord. "People," he said, "fear change - it is this fear that causes them to distrust people other than themselves."
...
    Kevin ended his speech by going back to his story. "I still tried making friends with people. At the end of the exchange program, I spoke to the Muslim boy again - and I did it very slowly." His eyes twinkled impishly. "I asked him, 'So, do you still want to kill me?' He looked me in the eye, and answered, 'Not anymore.'"


Like I said, it's nice. ^_^