“If you want a crop for one year, grow millet; if you want a crop for ten years, grow a tree; and if you want a crop for one hundred years, grow men.” This adage implied the fact that educational institutions played a key role in shaping the destiny of a nation by inculcating the spirit of sacrifice and selfless service among the youth who are today’s inspiration and the promise of tomorrow, said K. Narayana Kurup, former Acting Chief Justice of the Madras High Court.
Delivering the key note address at the 110th anniversary celebrations of SC Seminar Higher Secondary School at Thiruvalla, Justice Kurup said youth who occupied a pivotal position in our national life were the promise of tomorrow and the way in which they develop their physical, mental, and moral qualities would determine the pattern of the nation’s future.
He said the Indian youth should remember that they were the proud inheritors of a great cultural heritage. They should imbibe the spirit of tolerance and universal love through their education and training, he added.
According to him, history says that it was when we were disciplined and united and true to our tradition that we were great. It was when we deviated from these principles that we were subjected to external subjugation and internal chaos.
Justice Kurup says “the greatness of a nation depends upon the greatness of its people, which, in turn, depends upon the greatness of its youth.’’ He has called upon the youth to develop a vision of greatness by following the lives of the great leaders of the past.
He further exhorted the youth that they should have a sense of pride and purpose aiming at excellence and greatness, whatever be the work they were called upon to perform. The scriptures tell that human toil and grace of God are the two ingredients for success and greatness, he adds.
Fr Abraham P. Oommen, Mar Thoma Evangelistic Association general secretary, presided the function.
Joseph Mar Barnabas, bishop of the Adoor diocese of the Mar Thoma Church, inaugurated the meeting. Ms Sucie George, school principal, Fr V.T. Kurien, Dr Shibu Oommen, parent-teacher association president Ms Daisy K. Cherian, staff secretary, also spoke.
