Lech Wałęsa to Filipino youth:

 

That is just about the same as hearing Dr. Jose P. Rizal saying, “Ang kabataan ang pag-asa ng bayan.”

Except that it was said in a different millennium.

In the Polish language.

By a 1983 Nobel Peace Prize recipient.

The inconvenience of translation, however, was not an obstacle for the former Polish president, who gave a lecture in UA&P last January 24 at the invitation of the Philippine Council for Foreign Relations (PCFR), to impress upon the minds of the youth the need to work on peace, make reforms in society, and determine the economic system that is best for the country.

Here are 10 of the ideas passed on to the Filipino youth by the man who contributed to the fall of communism in Poland and the first Nobel laureate to set foot on our campus.

1. It is you, the young generation, who have to make reforms for this period of time.
2. Democracy was there when countries were divided by boundaries. During that time, we had respect for God. We were afraid of our neighbors, and things were about keeping it all together. Today, we are questioning the role of God. We are not afraid of our neighbors. “Do whatever you want! There is no devil anymore!” That is why this is a very difficult moment in our history.
3. We had dictators; we had problems. We did not learn how to choose [our leaders] well.
4. I mentioned the need to employ the “word.” The “word” is us, our meetings, where we will start thinking about what is good, what we will keep, and what we have to throw away to solve the problems.
5. I am too old for this work. But for you, youth, that is what it is (how you should do things). In this meeting, I want to see how you will want to do it (building a new world based on values) and how you will build it because on what you will build will depend my retirement.
6. You do not have much work to do. You are much better prepared than I was. You have much better education. And more money. In your shoes, I would have 10 Nobel Prizes, not just one. So, you start working now. If only you would want to do things, we will have a beautiful world.
7. The world is beautiful. But here and there, it is not managed properly because people do not want to engage themselves. They just talk in their little corners maybe even in this school and go home and nothing happens.
8. Partly a success is that you have noticed it (problem). Pool together the people that think the same way and then you can do something about it. In the beginning, we look at it thinking, “This is too big, too heavy, for me and maybe for a few of my friends. There are too many problems, and we are scared to do it.” That is a mistake. If there are such problems, the more that we have to sit down and look for the solutions to those problems.
9. If you will not use your talents, you will have a problem. It is the tragedy of the end.
10. We have a beautiful world and an exceptional situation. Nothing ever depends on us as much as today. We have to work on the realities of today. The next generations will talk about it: “Not only did they root out the disorder in the world; they also thought about it and started wise building.” I believe in building anew. And if it is not yet time to close the cover to my coffin, you can still see me on the construction site.