Shimon Peres

ShimonPeres

Activity Sent by Sandy Regev

Suggested Activity:
President Clinton's eulogy for Shimon Peres is written in capital letters.
Students need to rewrite it in lower case, using capitals only when necessary. Students also need to add or correct punctuation wherever necessary.

PRESIDENT CLINTON'S EULOGY FOR SHIMON PEREZ

TO THE PEREZ FAMILY, THE LEADER OF THE KNESSET AND PRESIDENT OBAMA AND ALL THE DISTINGUISHED LEADERS WHO HAVE COME FROM AROUND THE WORLD. YESTERDAY THE PRIME MINISTER DID SOMETHING THAT WAS UNTHINKABLE BACK IN THE DARK AGES WHEN I WAS PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES, HE SENT OUT A TWEET. AND THE TWEET REMINDED US OF A SIMPLE FACT. IT WAS ISRAEL'S FIRST DAY. WITHOUT SHIMON PEREZ. HE WAS IN THE KNESSET FOR 48 YEARS, BUT FOR MORE THAN 70 OF HIS 93 YEARS, IN ONE WAY OR THE OTHER, IN AND OUT OF GOVERNMENT, HE WAS A PUBLIC SERVANT. I WAS HONORED TO SHARE ALMOST 25 OF THOSE YEARS WITH HIM. FIRST IN OUR COMMON EFFORTS WITH PRIME MINISTER RABIN OF BLESSED MEMORY TO FORGE A JUST AND LASTING PEACE BETWEEN ISRAEL AND PALESTINIANS. THEN JUST AS HIS FRIEND. SOMEONE WHO LISTENED TO, LEARNED FROM, AND LAUGHED WITH HIM. AND ALWAYS WAS IN AWE OF HIS ENDLESS CAPACITY TO MOVE BEYOND EVEN MOST CRUSHING SETBACKS IN ORDER TO SEIZE THE POSSIBILITIES OF EACH NEW DAY.

I AM HONORED THE FAMILY ASKED ME TO TELL YOU WHAT HE MEANT TO SOMEONE WHO IS NOT A CITIZEN OF THIS COUNTRY I LOVE SO MUCH. BUT WHO WAS NEVER THE LESS BLESSED AND INSPIRED I THINK IN MANY WAYS IS A REPRESENTATIVE OF MILLIONS MORE HE TOUCHED THOUGH HE NEVER MET. ISRAEL WATCHED HIM GROW FIRST FROM SORT OF YOUNG GENIUS DURING HIS DAYS TO BUILD UNDEFEATABLE DEFENSE FORCES. THROUGH A LONG LIFE TO BECOME A WISE CHAMPION OF OUR COMMON HUMANITY. SOMEONE WHO WANTED THE BEST FOR ALL CHILDREN. YES, THE ISRAELI CHILDREN. BUT ALSO THE CHILDREN OF HIS NEIGHBORS AND THE LARGER WORLD. THE PREVIOUS SPEAKERS HAVE REMINDED ME AGAIN OF A CLIP I SAW LAST NIGHT ON TELEVISION WHERE SHIMON WAS BEING INTERVIEWED BY CHARLIE ROSE, AND HE LOOKED AT HIM SORT OF SAYING I'M GOING TO SERVE A SOFTBALL UP TO YOU. AND WATCH YOU HIT A HOME RUN. WHAT DO YOU WANT YOUR LEGACY TO BE? AND HE SAID, I'M MORE CONCERNED ABOUT TOMORROW THAN YESTERDAY. OUR COMPLICATED, BRILLIANT FRIEND STEERED BY A SIMPLE STRAIGHTFORWARD CREED. PERHAPS IN NO SMALL MEASURE TO HIS CONSTANT RELENTLESS URGING.

THE TOMORROWS HE ENVISIONS ARE ALREADY BEING LIVED HERE IN ISRAEL. BY MANY YOUNG PEOPLE IN SPITE OF ALL THE TROUBLES. YOU HEARD THE PRIME MINISTER TALK ABOUT THE DEDICATION OF THE NEW HIGH TECH PARK. HE'S BEEN TALKING TO ME ABOUT THAT FOR 25 YEARS. AND THERE ARE YOUNG PEOPLE NOW THROUGHOUT THE REGION WHO ARE TRYING TO BREAK BOTH THE MENTAL AND MATERIAL CHAINS THAT HAVE HELD THEM IN BONDAGE PERHAPS IN NO SMALL MEASURE TO THE INSPIRATION HE PROVIDED. AS HAS BEEN SAID, HIS CRITICS OFTEN CLAIMED HE WAS A NAIVE, OVERLY OPTIMISTIC DREAMER. THEY WERE ONLY WRONG ABOUT THE NAIVE PART. HE KNEW EXACTLY WHAT HE WAS DOING IN BEING OVERLY OPTIMISTIC. HE KNEW EXACTLY WHAT HE WAS DOING WITH HIS DREAMS. HE NEVER GAVE UP ON ANYBODY. I MEAN, ANYBODY. YOU HEARD THE PRIME MINISTER TALK ABOUT THEIR BEAUTIFUL FRIENDSHIP. IT FOLLOWED A VERY TOUGH CAMPAIGN. BUT SHIMON ALWAYS KEPT THE DOOR OPEN.

WE SHARED SO MANY WONDERFUL TIMES BUT MY PERSONAL FAVORITE WAS SITTING WITH HIM AND HIS OLD AND PERSONAL FRIEND SHARON AT HIS 80TH BIRTHDAY PARTY LISTENING TO THE BACK AND FORTH WAS A SIGHT TO BEHOLD. IT WAS WORTH THE PRICE OF ADMISSION AS THE SAYING GOES. IN ADDITION IT WAS A PERFECT PEREZ NIGHT. THE STAGE WAS FULL OF YOUNG PEOPLE TALKING ABOUT WHAT HE HAD MEANT TO THEIR LIVES, INCLUDING A YOUNG ETHIOPIAN MEMBER OF YOUR DEFENSE FORCES WHO HAD MET AS A VERY YOUNG CHILD AT THE AIRPORT AS PART OF THE OPERATION HE SUPPORTED. THE NIGHT ENDED, HOWEVER, WITH A CHOIR OF ISRAELI JEWISH AND ARAB CHILDREN SINGING TOGETHER JOHN LENON'S WONDERFUL SONG "IMAGINE." SHIMON ACTUALLY COULD IMAGINE ALL THE PEOPLE LIVING IN THE WORLD TODAY. HE IMAGINED ALL THE THINGS THE REST OF US COULD DO. HE STARTED OFF LIFE AS ISRAEL'S BRIGHTEST STUDENT, BECAME ITS BEST TEACHER, AND ENDED UP ITS BIGGEST DREAMER. HE LIVED 93 YEARS IN A STATE OF CONSTANT WONDER. OVER THE UNBELIEVABLE POTENTIAL OF ALL THE REST OF US TO RISE ABOVE OUR WOUNDS, OUR RESENTMENTS, OUR FEARS, TO MAKE THE MOST OF TODAY AND CLAIM THE PROMISE OF TOMORROW.

IT MUST HAVE BEEN HARD FOR HIM TO DO THIS. IT'S EASY TO SAY THINGS LIKE THIS AT A MEMORIAL SERVICE. IT'S HARD TO DO. FIRST HE HAD TO MASTER HIS OWN DEALINGS -- DEMONS, FORGIVE HIMSELF FOR HIS OWN MISTAKES, AND GET OVER HIS OWN DISAPPOINTMENTS. THE MONUMENTAL EFFORT REQUIRED TO DO THAT GREW HIS HEART TO BE BIGGER THAN HIS BRAIN, WHICH IS REALLY SAYING SOMETHING. THAT EFFORT ALSO, I AM CONVINCED, IS WHAT MADE HIM FOREVER YOUNG. NOW HE IS GONE. LEAVING ONLY A BLESSED MEMORY AND A POWERFUL EXAMPLE. THAT'S MORE THAN ENOUGH IF THOSE OF US WHO LOVED HIM FROM NEAR AND FAR ACCEPT OUR DUTY TO KEEP HIS GIFTS ALIVE. FOR THE REST OUR LIVES, WHENEVER THE ROAD WE TRAVEL COMES TO A DEAD END, OR THE GOOD WE SEEK TO DO HITS A STONE WALL, OR THE HAND OF FRIENDSHIP WE EXTEND MEETS ONLY A COLD STARE, IN HIS HONOR I ASK THAT WE REMEMBER SHIMON PEREZ'S LUMINOUS SMILE. AND IMAGINE.

2. Suggested Activity:

Shimon Peres donated his corneas and encouraged people to donate organs.
Talk about Peres and what he left us – elicit information from students. In this poem his eyes are a metaphor. Teachers may also want to discuss what other organs Peres could have donated, for example, his heart...

Someone Will Get Your Eyes - by Sharon Shinar

In Memory of Shimon Peres z"l

Someone will get your eyes,
The eyes that saw a nation, before the nation succeeded in seeing itself,
The eyes that saw Ben Gurion stand on his head,
And Golda, in the seat of the Prime Minister.

Someone will get your eyes,
That saw Independence and a flag, with a blue Star of David
Eyes that saw a Prime Minister assassinated
But also saw peace treaties
Eyes that under no circumstances
ever agreed to see the End.

Someone will get your eyes,
Eyes that saw innovation, even before the word had an entry in the dictionary
Eyes that saw losses but refused to see defeat
Eyes that saw worlds, and saw leaders
Eyes that taught, each day anew, to have faith.

Someone will get your eyes
And how symbolic is it that you specifically chose to leave them behind
Eyes that saw so much of everything, and insisted that,
no matter how dark things looked in the tunnel of the moment,
there was always at least a little point of light at the end.

Someone, will get your eyes,
And that is so much more than everything else
For history always remains behind
But if we succeed in looking forward, like your eyes
Then perhaps, even for just a moment, we will succeed in believing in all of this -
For ourselves, for you.

Credit for poem: http://www.theicenter.org/resource/eyes-visionary-%E2%80%93-poem