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The past is in the present
but the future
is in still in our hands. Elie Wiesel
So twenty years ago Marion and I
were thinking about new projects
of course we felt that
the theme of ethics must be predominant in whatever we do.
Too few people talk about it.
We talk about the economy, we talk about sociology and politics.
The question always is the ethics in all of that. Where is ethics? We don't talk about ethics.
The Elie Wiesel Prize of Ethics Essay Contest is part of his commitment
to engage new generations of young people and encourage them to grapple with some of the most consequential questions of our times
The prize in ethics is so important because we need to catalyze people to think differently
about human endeavor and about accomplishment.
The foresight of twenty years of reaching out to our best and brightest young leaders
and inspiring in them ethical leadership inspired us at LRN
to participate and become a sponsor and a partner
Today the future can't be just be in any hands
it can't be in clever hands industrious hands financial engineering hands
tonight we recognize that the future of must be
in the hands that are ethical. Winning the prize was
it was humbling because it gave me inspiration and encouragement to know
that
perhaps my voice could be used
for something that's greater than myself. To know that such a great
humanitarian and writer as Professor Wiesel had not only read my words
but deemed them worthy of a prize bearing his name motivated me to learn what
ethical living really meant in my life. The essays realy speak so
much about some of them through about truth
and others about justice
It is really a pleaasure
to know
that we are their contemporaries
Professor Wiesel is someone who is a deep thinker someone who really ponders and wrights eloquently
and with deep empathy, but
at the same time he's someone who does tremendous good for the world. What he does is he reflects, he thinks, he interacts
he engages himself in the community and obviously
through his writing is seen as an insightful individual
about ethics thinking about the ethical responsibility of the individual.
Ethics and ethical discussion is a quest
to try and find out how one best exists in the world
and being a part of the world is being connected. A philosophy that's very South
African
Ubuntu
I am because we are because you are and my humanity is inextricably linked to yours.
Sometimes I worry that many students
will take up activist causes without thinking
and reflecting on their role in the larger system. Well what is my responsibility now
how am I responsible I read about genocides going on other sides of the world I
read about the problems of AIDS I read about torture going on by our own
government
and am I morally responsible for that.
But ethical leadership is not just about knowledge it's not just about ethical
it's about the courage to act especially when it's inconvenient,
unpopular, unprofitable, or even dangerous. Think about the times we are in today the
financial crisis the climate crisis or all the other challenges that we face
Our world is busy with all kinds of problems
we see in iraq and afghanistan and health care. These challenges are largely about
people in large and small ways not behaving
disconnecting from fundamental values
principles and a sense of responsibility. Iwould like
leaders today
and also listen to them
stop at one point and say
is ethical what we are doing
is it moral
because without ethics
all of our endeavors fail and are meaningless.
Think higher and feel deeper.