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Youth, Viljandi, Democracy
At the beginning, there was nothing. Then
He created the pavement and the street lightening…Then He
created the cars and buses and made them move.And He made
parks and shopping centers. And He looked upon his work
and he saw that it was good. And He called it Viljandi.
Then He made a man and a woman to rule the place…
Well, the man and his wife have done quite
a lot of work by now.Did I tell you that they were also
told to go forth and multiply? Anywhay, they did. There
are over 20 000 people living in Viljandi right now, over
3000 of which go to school. To teach all these children
and to shelter them during a day, the man and the woman
have built 6 kindergartens, 6 schools and a college.They
have organized sportclubs, music schools, art clubs and
so on.... Recently, they have erected a youth centre to
help the young people here to spend their leisure time rationally.I
could tell you a lot of what these nice people have done,
but my goal is to tell you a story about democracy.
Once, one of the many children, came to the
man and asked:" Daddy, what is democracy?" The
man thought and decided not to tell them, but explain by
showing. At first, he took the boy to the kindergarten and
showed little kids around a table. "What shall we do
today?," asked the nurse. "LET'S PAINT!!!,"
shouted the children. And they painted... So, if the majority
wants something and says so, it will be done! Then they
went to a school. There they saw a group of young people
sitting together and discussing some current school problems.In
some time, the students reached a compromise about how to
solve these problems.The next place they visited, was the
town hall, where a session was being held. But no, it was
not the town council. It was the Youth Council of Viljandi.
At that moment they were discussing some details of the
many programmes they took part in (the Hansa Youth, UBC,
etc).
Well, if it's not clear yet, come to see
for yourself. You will find Viljandi on every European map.
Liivi Parrest
Member of Viljandi Youth Council
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