Rhode Island SR 687: SENATE RESOLUTION CONGRATULATING DOMENIC KAFFENBERGER OF WESTERN HILLS MIDDLE SCHOOL IN CRANSTON, RHODE ISLAND, ON BEING NAMED AN AWARD WINNER IN THE 2017 ANNUAL STUDENT ESSAY CONTEST SPONSORED BY THE NATIONAL WWII MUSEUM

Bill Text

2017 -- S 0687
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LC002309
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S T A T E O F R H O D E I S L A N D
IN GENERAL ASSEMBLY
JANUARY SESSION, A.D. 2017
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S E N A T E R E S O L U T I O N
CONGRATULATING DOMENIC KAFFENBERGER OF WESTERN HILLS MIDDLE
SCHOOL IN CRANSTON, RHODE ISLAND, ON BEING NAMED AN AWARD WINNER IN
THE 2017 ANNUAL STUDENT ESSAY CONTEST SPONSORED BY THE NATIONAL
WWII MUSEUM
Introduced By: Senators Lombardi, Miller, Gallo, Metts, and Satchell
Date Introduced: March 30, 2017
Referred To: Recommended for Immediate Consideration

WHEREAS, The National World War II Museum, in New Orleans, Louisiana, was 1
founded in 2000, and was designated as America's official National World War II Museum by the 2
United States Congress in 2003; and 3
WHEREAS, The National World War II Museum sponsors an annual essay contest for 4
middle school and high school students across the United States, with approximately 1,000 5
participants. Each year has a different theme. This year's theme, in memory Elie Wiesel, a 6
survivor of Auschwitz who passed away in 2016, was for entrants to write an essay in response to 7
a quote by Mr. Wiesel, coming from the point of view of a young person coming of age in the 8
twenty-first century; and 9
WHEREAS, When Mr. Hank Maine, an English Language Arts teacher at Western Hills 10
Middle School in Cranston, offered his students the option of doing an essay in place of one of 11
the required readings, one of his eighth-grade students, Domenic Kaffenberger, took him up on 12
his offer and proceeded to be named an award winner for his essay about indifference, a topic the 13
Nobel Prize winning author Elie Wiesel wrote about in his book, "Night"; and 14
WHEREAS, The exact quote from Mr. Wiesel's book that Domenic wrote about was 15
"The opposite of love is not hate, it's indifference. The opposite of beauty is not ugliness, it's 16
indifference. The opposite of faith is not heresy, it's indifference. And the opposite of life is not 17
death, but indifference between life and death." In his essay, Domenic connected events of the 18

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present with events of the past and wrote about how indifference to the plight of others is 1
primarily what ails the world today and he went on to write that "The only way for evil to 2
conquer good is to do nothing." Hopefully, with young people like Domenic in our midst, evil 3
and darkness will not conquer the good again; and 4
WHEREAS, Domenic Kaffenberger is a caring, bright, and intellectually curious young 5
man. According to his teacher, "Domenic thinks at a very high level and we talk about that 6
higher-level thinking a lot in class. Our group discussions often go in unbelievable directions and 7
I always want them to bring their discussions to that next level. Domenic certainly does that"; 8
now, therefore be it 9
RESOLVED, That this Senate of the State of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations 10
hereby congratulates Domenic Kaffenberger for being named an award winner in the 2017 11
Annual Student Essay Contest sponsored by the National WWII Museum; and be it further 12
RESOLVED, That the Secretary of State be and hereby is authorized and directed to 13
transmit a duly certified copy of this resolution to Domenic Kaffenberger. 14
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LC002309
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