112th Precinct Community Council

Tolerance essay contest

Jul 16, 2008

Flushing Remonstrance Tolerance Essay Contest
By Heidi Harrison Chain
On May 29th, the 112th Precinct Community Council and the Forest Hills Community and Civic Association conducted the essay contest awards ceremony at the Queens Museum of Art. Maspeth Bank provided the prizes for the first three winners. Over 150 residents attended the ceremony.
In 1657, 31 prominent residents of Flushing refused to obey Gov. Peter Stuyvesant's command to discriminate against the Quakers.?  Their reply, The Flushing Remonstrance, is one of the earliest political assertion of freedom of conscience and religion in New York. It is considered a precursor to the United States Constitution?’s protections found in the Bill of Rights.
The petition stated in part: ?“ Wee desire therefore in this case not to judge least we be judged, neither to condemn least we be condemned, but rather let every man stand or fall to his own Master. Wee are bounde by the law to do good unto all men,?”
The Judges of the contest were: Executive Assistant District Attorney Jesse Sligh, Chief Diana Pizzuti, Commanding Officer Patrol Borough Queens North, David Daraio and Victoria Grappone, of Maspeth Bank and Lew Harris Executive Director of the Queens Community House.
We presented awards to each of the judges and to the Queens Museum of Art. We specifically thanked and acknowledged the NYPD for all the help in making this event possible. Every student who submitted an essay was presented with a certificate of participation and a copy of the Flushing Remonstrance. The essays were submitted from our local schools. The students thought about living together and wrote eloquent essays the Title of the essay is taken from the Remonstrance: ?“we are bound by the law to do good unto all?”.
Here are some quotes from our winning essays to give you an insight into the thoughts of our youth.
Nicole Bielecki , our first prize winner from PS 174 wrote: ?“ I agree with the colonists of Flushing who advised their Governor to be more peaceful and tolerable to others. The reasons mentioned above encourage all people to try to live in harmony with all in our community. This is important because one little action done by a single person can help impact the world amd make it a better place to live in.?”

Sara Ruth Hannema, our second prize winner wrote: ?“Education is in my view considered the key to tolerance, therefore it is very important to raise cultural and religious tolerance in schools. The real important question for the Flushing community is how we can do an even better job in educating students in order to make them more tolerant towards others.?“

Aglaia Ho, our third prize winner, started her essay with these thoughts: ?“Imagine our community living in harmony. No one acts with hate and everyone lives peacefully. We all respect each other and everyone is valued equally. From the start, we lived in a community bound to do good.?”

Kareen Soffer from Forest Hills High School wrote: ?“In order for us to have a better future and a life of harmony in the community we have to make the first step ourselves. Each and every one of us has to contribute their time, effort and caring and we would make the impact needed to improve our future. We depend on the community and the community depends on us.?”

Jared Levine wrote: ?“No matter how old I am or where I live I will always follow laws and rules and show the highest respect to others.?”

Alex Mariniouk, who attends PS 196, wrote: ?“Rules and laws help you gain values to become a great, honest leader. We might not know if we will continue to live in harmony, but deep in your hearts you know how to stop evil. Reach out, like a tree stretches its branches, and help someone. Find the values like jewels, in your heart and show other people what?’s right, and so I can assure you we will continue to live in harmony.

Claire Burghard, who attends PS101, compared tolerance to a golden hummingbird. ?“It will fly and sing, and when golden, will shine and light the world. However, a hummingbird feeder must give it support. It must be fed nectar like tolerance must be fed kindness. It must be given energy like tolerance must be given acts of justice. It must be given a source of life like tolerance must be given a meaning. We are the hummingbird feeders.?”

Elese Chen wrote: ?“All of mankind is able to reach out and help make an impact in our future so as to live in harmony with each other. Every one of us is significant to our future and is capable of making a difference.?”