Thursday, October 08, 2009

The Girl Who Silenced the World



At the age of 13, Severn Cullis-Suzuki spoke at the 1992 UN Earth Summit in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Her comments are still powerful nearly 20 years later.

She told the delegates of a visit with street children living in one of the city's poorest favelas. "'I wish I was rich,'" she quoted one homeless child as saying. "'And if I was, I would give all the street children food, clothes, medicines, shelter and love and affection.'" She looked out over the gathering of representatives from around the world and asked, "If a child who has nothing is willing to share, why are we who have everything still so greedy?"

3 comments:

hawthorne girl said...

i just watched a documentary on brazil last night and it shocked me. i had no idea how violent it is there. why isn't the us aware of this?

Kathleen Bauer said...

What was the name of the documentary? Who did it? Let's give them some publicity!

EcoGrrl said...

who says the US is not aware of the situation? our action depends on economic necessity, as there are countries all over the world, including china and countries all over africa, who we do not interfere in no matter what the social or political situation.