Nobel Peace Prize 2006
Today I watched the Nobel Peace Prize Award on television, and listened to the Nobel Lecture given by Nobel Peace Prize Laureate Professor Muhammad Yunus. It was truly inspiring! Mr Yunus and Grameen Bank have given millions of women in Bangladesh an opportunity to borrow small amounts of money in order to start their own businesses and over time this has taken them out of extreme poverty.
You can read the entire Laureate speech online, but I specifically want to quote the following parts:
“World's income distribution gives a very telling story. Ninety four percent of the world income goes to 40 percent of the population while sixty percent of people live on only 6 per cent of world income. Half of the world population lives on two dollars a day. Over one billion people live on less than a dollar a day. This is no formula for peace. ”
“We must address the root causes of terrorism to end it for all time to come. I believe that putting resources into improving the lives of the poor people is a better strategy than spending it on guns.”
“Poverty is the absence of all human rights. The frustrations, hostility and anger generated by abject poverty cannot sustain peace in any society. For building stable peace we must find ways to provide opportunities for people to live decent lives.”
“Human beings are a wonderful creation embodied with limitless human qualities and capabilities.”
“To me poor people are like bonsai trees. When you plant the best seed of the tallest tree in a flower-pot, you get a replica of the tallest tree, only inches tall. There is nothing wrong with the seed you planted, only the soil-base that is too inadequate. Poor people are bonsai people. There is nothing wrong in their seeds. Simply, society never gave them the base to grow on. All it needs to get the poor people out of poverty for us to create an enabling environment for them. Once the poor can unleash their energy and creativity, poverty will disappear very quickly. “
“Let us join hands to give every human being a fair chance to unleash their energy and creativity.”
You can read the entire Laureate speech online, but I specifically want to quote the following parts:
“World's income distribution gives a very telling story. Ninety four percent of the world income goes to 40 percent of the population while sixty percent of people live on only 6 per cent of world income. Half of the world population lives on two dollars a day. Over one billion people live on less than a dollar a day. This is no formula for peace. ”
“We must address the root causes of terrorism to end it for all time to come. I believe that putting resources into improving the lives of the poor people is a better strategy than spending it on guns.”
“Poverty is the absence of all human rights. The frustrations, hostility and anger generated by abject poverty cannot sustain peace in any society. For building stable peace we must find ways to provide opportunities for people to live decent lives.”
“Human beings are a wonderful creation embodied with limitless human qualities and capabilities.”
“To me poor people are like bonsai trees. When you plant the best seed of the tallest tree in a flower-pot, you get a replica of the tallest tree, only inches tall. There is nothing wrong with the seed you planted, only the soil-base that is too inadequate. Poor people are bonsai people. There is nothing wrong in their seeds. Simply, society never gave them the base to grow on. All it needs to get the poor people out of poverty for us to create an enabling environment for them. Once the poor can unleash their energy and creativity, poverty will disappear very quickly. “
“Let us join hands to give every human being a fair chance to unleash their energy and creativity.”
posted by mondopod at 4:01 PM
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