Posted by Stryi Gymnasium, Ukraine
Laws of Live

Dana Shumanska age 16

January 2004

Life – is a gift from God, which is given to people only once. It always has the beginning and has the end. Some people say that it’s like dream, but we are sure that this is a great chance for everyone to do his mission in the world and to show himself. To my mind everyone understands life in different ways. And we can not condemn them.

Life is a very private thing, because everyone has his inner world and lives in it too. I think that only a man must be the master of his life. But this gift as far as I’ve mentioned is from God and any time God can take this present back from us. So we must live due to some principles, due to some rules.

I think these laws have already been set by God and are called Ten Commandments, They are based on the faith in God, but contain also laws concerning relations between people: do not kill, do no steal, respect your parents and so on. And after realizing all these laws we understand that we have some restrictions and after death we will be punished for violating them.

Some religions say that there is one more rule; our children will be punished for our sins. People should be responsible for their actions. They should not think only about themselves, some people are very egoistic. This way God makes people think about future generations.

I think we should value the life, value the great chances, given by destiny. We should be decent, through maybe our destiny depends on our ancestor’s actions. I’m sure that people should be respectable, helpful, thankful to everyone who helps them and of course kind and generous. If everyone were kind our world would become a very pleasant place to live.

                                                                                                Dana Shumanska

                                                                                                16 years old

This essay was published on the web in 2003 as part of a collection by Ukrainian high school (gymnasium) students. Most were in Ukrainian but several noteworthy examples were in English under the sponsorship of Stryi Gymnasium English teacher, Halina Stetsko, an internationally recognized teacher of English as a second language.

I well remember grappling with Dana’s difficult subject at the same age but did not achieve her level of understanding. When reading her concluding sentence I exclaimed, “She’s got it! She nailed it!” (Bolding is mine.)

Just as “please” and “you are welcome” are stated in Ukrainian as bud’ laska, literally, “let there be kindness”, I propose that we attach “let there be friendship” and move forward in kindness and friendship with ukraineorphans.net

David Cottrell, 2007