Life through the eyes of children

Letters represent thoughts

Recently, the 54th UPU International Letter Writing Competition - 2025 officially closed with a solemn award ceremony, leaving many deep impressions in the hearts of students, parents andeducators . With the global theme: "Imagine you are the ocean. Write a letter to someone explaining why and how they should take good care of you", this year's competition has truly aroused rich imagination, sense of responsibility and love of nature in the young generation. With more than 1.5 million entries from students across the country, the competition once again showed the wide reach as well as the increasingly deep concern of young people for ocean protection.

At the Closing and Award Ceremony, the National First Prize went to Pham Doan Minh Khue (10C2 student, Le Quy Don High School for the Gifted, Da Nang City). With a creative mindset and a fresh approach, Minh Khue played the role of the Ocean, sending a touching "heart letter" to the famous director James Cameron - who created blockbusters associated with the ocean such as Titanic, The Abyss, Avatar... In the letter, with a delicate, gentle but profound tone, Minh Khue described the heart of the ocean as "struggling, in pain, about to stop beating" due to the constant destruction of humans. The Ocean earnestly called on James Cameron, with his influence, to make a new film, to awaken the world , to take action for the survival of the ocean and of humanity itself.

The letter won first prize in the 53rd UPU International Letter Writing Competition - 2024 about children lacking love by male student Nguyen Do Quang Minh. (Photo: Organizing Committee)

In addition to the First Prize, the Organizing Committee of the 54th UPU International Letter Writing Competition also awarded 3 Second Prizes, 5 Third Prizes, 30 Encouragement Prizes, 61 Promising Writer Prizes, 10 Source of Ideas Prizes and 10 Collective Prizes. Among them, many of the winners are still children but have profound thinking, a sense of responsibility and a strong love for the green planet. Despite their immaturity, they have become the most authentic “spokespeople” for a generation living with ideals and aspirations to build a sustainable future.

Pham Ngoc Binh Minh (9H grade student, Dang Thai Mai Secondary School, Vinh City), one of this year's winners, shared emotionally: "I feel like I have listened to the voice of the ocean, with both reason and heart. Through the letter, I want to express the pain of the ocean, and also express my own promise: to always love and protect the living environment around me, starting from the smallest things...".

In fact, this is not the first time that students have had the opportunity to raise their voices in public. The UPU International Letter Writing Competition has been held in Vietnam for 37 consecutive seasons, becoming a meaningful annual playground where children are encouraged to express their thoughts, feelings and personal opinions on global issues.

Every year, the competition brings a new theme, related to the common concerns of humanity, from peace, climate change, technology to future generations. Still remember last year, the first prize winning letter of the 53rd UPU International Letter Writing Competition - 2024 with the theme of a letter to future generations telling about the world you hope they will inherit by Nguyen Do Quang Minh (at that time a 9th grade student at Nguyen Khuyen Secondary - High School, Da Nang City) moved many people.

Set on Christmas Eve 2023, a student from Da Nang played the role of a character named Pullattie, writing a letter to the Director General of the Universal Postal Union (UPU) in 2174. In the emotional letter, Pullattie shared his concerns about a world where children are gradually lacking love and longing for a place to confide, to be listened to and loved. “They long to share with the most sincere handwritten letters, sent to a place where they believe someone will listen to them and receive love in return. And that can only be Santa Claus!”

“I imagine that 150 years from now, when humanity uses email and many other modern means of communication, all post offices around the world will still have free mailboxes for children to write letters to Santa Claus. Each country will have a headquarters to receive letters, send letters and gifts like this Santa Claus village. I wish there would be many schools to train Santa Claus, so that people who love children will learn how to bring happiness to children,” Nguyen Do Quang Minh shared in his letter to the contest.

With a rich imagination, a natural and humane writing style, Quang Minh's letter touched the hearts of readers. Like a bell reminding the future world to never lose the sacred connection between people: sharing, listening and loving.

In search of a better world through drawings

It can be seen that although children's thoughts are still immature, they are rich in sincere emotions, full of concerns and contain unexpected perspectives that make adults ponder silently. In particular, children are not bound by prejudices or social stereotypes, things that adults often build around them. It is this innocence that helps them have a fresh perspective, where anything can happen, every dream can come true.

In addition to writing letters, children also express their rich inner world and soaring imagination through each stroke. Through painting, children express what they think, express what they wish for and draw an ideal world where nature is protected, people love each other and all evil is replaced by beauty. Over the years, many children's painting competitions have been held to become a playground for children to unleash their creativity, while also conveying meaningful messages. There, innocent eyes have become a "magical lens" reflecting all aspects of life, both funny and profound.

Contest entries for the drawing contest “I draw the city in 2075”. (Photo: HTV)

Within the framework of the children's painting campaign "I draw the city 2075", organized on the occasion of the 50th anniversary of the Liberation of the South and National Reunification Day, hundreds of paintings were sent from all over, carrying creative perspectives on a Ho Chi Minh City of the future. With open and imaginative themes, the "child artists" freely swung their brushes, dotting vivid strokes such as metro trains gliding across the sky, robots helping people, buildings covered with trees and smoke-free streets. From there, a colorful future world was drawn, where technology developed rapidly and people lived in harmony with nature.

What is special is that, whether expressed in words or images, children's voices always contain faith in good things. They do not embellish reality but always sow seeds of hope for the future. It seems that the colors of life through the lens of children are not only beautiful because they are seen with rich imagination, but also beautiful because they are reflected by innocent, pure souls, with the desire to live kindly and share. Therefore, each letter and each painting of children deserves to be listened to, cherished and considered a gentle reminder: adults also need to learn to look at the world through the eyes of children, to love more, be more tolerant and live more beautifully every day.

Ganoderma

Source: https://baophapluat.vn/cuoc-song-qua-lang-kinh-tre-em-post549530.html