[A] new generation, innocent of the divisions of the Cold War, this coming-of-age. ... If its members do not feel the urgency to escape the nuclear danger that some of its parents felt, neither has it developed the deep attachment to nuclear arms also often found among their parents, including most of the governing class. ... The call for abolition should therefore be, among other things, a call from an older generation to younger one.
Interpretation
The quote emphasizes the generational shift in attitudes towards nuclear arms and the need for younger generations to advocate for disarmament.
Jonathan Schell's quote discusses how a new generation, unlike their parents who lived through the Cold War, lacks both the fear of nuclear weapons and the attachment to them. He argues that it is the responsibility of the older generation to urge the youth to recognize the ongoing threat of nuclear arms and to inspire them to advocate for their abolition as part of their coming-of-age.
In practice
In a speech about global peace, one could quote Schell to illustrate the generational responsibility towards nuclear disarmament.
The use of a mere dozen nuclear weapons ... would be a human catastrophe without parallel. ... Because so few weapons can kill so many people, even far-reaching disarmament proposals would leave us implicated in plans for unprecedented slaughter of innocent people. The sole measure that can free us from this burden is abolition.
How do you change the world? One room at a time. Which room? The one you're in.
Dreams have consequences. There is no turning back. A revolution is not a painless march to the gates of freedom and justice. It is a struggle between rage and hope, between the temptation to destroy and the desire to build. Its temperament is desperate. It is a tormented response to the past, to all that has happened, the recalled and unrecalled injustices - for the memory of a revolution reaches much further back than the memory of its protagonists.
The crisis consists precisely in the fact that the old is dying and the new cannot be born
As you begin changing your thinking, start immediately to change your behavior. Begin to act the part of the person you would like to become. Take action on your behavior. Too many people want to feel, then take action. This never works.
You are the world. When you transform yourself, the world you live in will also be transformed.
If you give people unlimited time and money, they'll do things the same old way. But if they have to achieve the goal in a brief time, they'll either give up or try something new.
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