Be Healthy, Delightful and Proficient in Foreign Languages

Congratulations on your annual English speech contest, which has become quite a tradition [of the Junior high school division]! I hear in my heart the brave and eloquent voices of youthful world citizens who are shouldering the 21st century. Ibelieve your active participation in an event lide this will serve as a cause for your tremendous growth. Your efforts will bear fruit without fail. Today, I will receive a Special Merit of Award from the St.Petersburh Scientific Center of the Russian Academy of Sciences. This conferral has been unanimously decided by 32 academic institutes. Ireport this honor first to you, the junior high school divsion members who are attending this contest, because the honor is a crown of intelligence that will shine brilliantly in the future when all of you will play significant roles in the world. During the Second World War, the city of St. Petersburg (then Leningrad) was besieged for 900 days by the Napi German forces. In the middle of the dreadful bombardment, however, there was a middle school that persistently continued to hold classes without missing a single day. Each time the school was damaged by a bomb, the students rebuilt it and carried on with their studies, enduring the cold and shortages of food. It is awonder that the students are said to have achieved the best grades during this hardest time. One of them wrote how he felt at that time: "While bombing, the enemy planes scattered handouts that said they would annihilate our city. But their intention to terrify and threaten us only motivated us to summon forth more and more inner strength." What is important is such anunyielding spirit, or the courage to persevere. You should not be overcome by any hardship such as others speaking ill of you. Advance further and further regardless of whatever unfavorable conditions you may be confronted with. With regard to learning languages, those who make persistent efforts will win in the end. I conclude my message by expressing my wish that ll of you gathered here will always be healthy, delightful and proficient in foreign languages, living out your youth to the fullest. - Translated excerpts from SGI President Ikeda's message to the junior high school division English speech contest held on November 8, 1998