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2007 Awards Week in D.C.
Banquet Speech by Kyle Mallinak
Good evening, ladies and gentlemen. My name is Kyle Mallinak and I am from Tennessee. Tonight, I have the honor of speaking on behalf of this year’s Peace Essay honorees. It has been a very busy five days and it is somewhat surreal to realize that our time in D.C. is coming to a close. We should not forget, however, that this week was only an interlude, a highlight from a process that started years ago and will hopefully extend well into the future.
The students you see here tonight are not here by accident; they have spent years developing their own unique talents. Many of them may not pursue a career in foreign policy; nevertheless they all possess an intense awareness of the challenges facing the world today. They truly are professionals pretending to be teenagers, and I feel privileged to have met them at the beginning of their undoubtedly long and successful careers.
Sixteen-hour days have a way of bringing people together. We’ve eaten together, toured together, listened together, and argued together. We’ve laughed at our differences and enjoyed our commonalities. Whatever else we take from this week, we know that we are not alone. There are other young people who share our interests and our passions, and we will likely be encountering each other for many years to come.
The difficult task of preserving peace was best expressed by none other than Leon Trotsky, who once noted, “You may not be interested in war, but war is interested in you.” For hundreds of thousands of children that statement rings true, as they have been forced into some of the world’s most brutal conflicts. This week, we have reflected on the suffering and need of those no older than ourselves, and often much younger. We have no more interest in war than the children of Uganda or Colombia or Sri Lanka. But we know that if our places had been exchanged with theirs, they would work just as hard to free us from the horror and bloodshed confronting child soldiers today. We gladly spend our time confronting the child soldier problem, and we thank USIP for the opportunity to educate ourselves about issues that have for too long been ignored.
This week would not have been possible without a tremendous amount of work by a large group of people, and much of that work will probably go unacknowledged. That said, our thanks go out to the following:
- Our wonderful program director, Raina Kim;
- Brian Rose, David Smith, Sarah Dye, Jeff Helsing, Linda Bishai, and the entire program staff;
- At USIP itself, President Solomon, Pamela Aall, and the board members here with us tonight, Robin West and Betty Bumpers;
- The instructors – Craig, Laura, Ethan, and Andrea – who have faithfully shepherded us this week;
- The UVA students, who all spent hour after hour with us with the simulation trenches; and
- Betty Bigombe and all the other speakers who gave us their valuable time this week.
Finally, I want to offer my gratitude to those who directly or indirectly helped me reach this point, including Carol McMurray, Tony Galloway, George Lopez, Rashied Omar, Sean Maginnis, Stephanie Velasco, and my sponsor, Kevin Fielden. Without their encouragement and support, I would not be standing here tonight. Thank you for your time, and enjoy the rest of your evening.
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