Wednesday, April 11, 2007

Letter to Mr. Ryu

This is a draft. What do you think?

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Dear Mr. Ryu,

We are a group of ASIJ alumni protesting your planned donation to ASIJ. Our objection has been your involvement in the manufacture of cluster bombs. We apologize for any antagonism that we may have projected onto you, and for not contacting you earlier.

We appreciate your generosity and your wish to give back to ASIJ even as an anonymous donor. However, we would like the issues brought forth by this donation--the moral boundaries concerning the business of war, as well as the responsibilities of individuals and institutions in the face of global issues--to be addressed. Perhaps this is an opportunity to reacknowledge ASIJ's educational mission: developing compassionate, inquisitive, learners for global responsibility. Do you think that the ASIJ community could have an open dialogue with you about your work and its relation to ASIJ? We would love to hear from you. Please give us a reply and let us know your thoughts. Thank you for listening.

Sincerely,
Michael Dickison and Yusei Ota

P.S. Please also take a look at our petition: http://www.petitiononline.com/asijasij/

7 comments:

Michael Dickison said...

hmm... too many "nonetheless"'s?

yusei said...

looks fine to me! 送っちゃえ~~~!笑。てかアドレス知ってるの??

yusei said...

hey, was just thinking, could you add my name too to show that your not alone? :)

Michael Dickison said...

This is nitpicking, but this sentence "We appreciate your generosity and your wish to give back to ASIJ, even as an anonymous donor." seems a bit unclear to me. I added a second "your" already (otherwise it sounded almost like we wish to give back not his wish to give back--verb vs. noun, I suppose), but maybe "wish" is not the right word? And also "even as an anonymous donor" sounds like I'm being critical, but I meant it in a positive, "even if you are willing to take no credit" type of thing... suggestions?

Michael Dickison said...

Oh yeah, and where would I add your (yusei's) name? Just at the end or all the way through from the beginning? I don't care either way, I'm just not sure how to work it in.

yusei said...

i dont know, maybe i was being cheap in thinking that adding other peoples name might make it more persuasive..lol. doesnt really matter.

Michael Dickison said...

how about something like this? i simply changed all the "i"s to "we"s