"Long, it was. But not lonely. Not lonely because people like you out there, rooting for me, working for me, trying their best to make sure that I would gain my freedom. This is what Amnesty International means to a lot of political prisoners. That we were not alone, that they were remembered, that their fight must be fought for them while their arms were shackled. So I would like to ask you to continue this fight, but in a slightly different way (especially the young people). When we talk of passing the torch on, we want to make sure that torch is brighter and warmer. So it's not just a matter of making sure political prisoners are free. You, the young, have got to try to get to the root of WHY they are political prisoners. Until you do that, you will never be able to ensure that this world will be free of prisoners of conscience. So the younger generation must go a step further. With every generation there must be improvement. So you must find out WHY there are political prisoners, WHY they put away people who disagree with them, WHY are people afraid of disagreement, why are people afraid of things that are DIFFERENT from what they are and what they have known. If you can do that, then you can achieve amnesty for the whole world, and amnesty of the spirit, where people are free because they are not shackled by fear.
This morning I was talking to someone about the Burmese-American community at American University, and we have a problem in Burma: Burmese people tend to quarrel. We have to find out why these things happen. In Burma, which is a Buddhist country, where compassion should be the ruling emotion, we had 50 years of military rule and much cruelty has been committed during that time. Why did we become like that? Why was there so much hatred? Why was there so much brutality? I believe that the seed of hatred is fear. It's fear of something. If we look at the word 'phobia' it means 'irrational fear'; it is also defined as 'intense dislike'. These two are linked. It is fear that leads to dislike and hatred. So what the young people must do is try to eradicate the fear. Unless you work at the root of hatred, you will not be able to get rid of hatred. And unless you get rid of hatred, you will not be able to rid this world of political prisoners, because prisoners become prisoners out of the fear of others. It is others who fear that they will be trouble; prisoners are those who challenge the authority, who will be a threat to their position; who will, by their very difference, show them up at some point or the other. So the kind of task that I would like to pass on to you, not just to free political prisoners, but to free the minds of people who make political prisoners. This is a big task, but a simple one in some ways. If you know what your goal is, if your goal is very clear, then you will find a way of getting to it. So, young people, not just freeing political prisoners, but freeing of the MINDS that put people in prison- please let that be the task for the next generation."
