Mary Potter
Monday, February 22, 2010 10:28 pm

Editor's Note: Bishop Desmond Tutu passed away in late December 2021. When I saw him at this MSU press conference, he taught me saints can be funny and being chided by a saint is not so bad.

Bishop Desmond Tutu gently chided the press that gathered to question him prior to his speech at the Regional Special Events Center at Murray State. The Nobel Peace Prize winner bemoaned the fact that the press concentrated on youth who break the law or misbehave. He told them that these youth are a very small portion of young people.

He told of meeting young Americans in the Peace Corps overseas who were not out for publicity. "These are the stories you should be telling." He said. Young people have so many more temptations than their elders that the wonder for Tutu is "not that so many go off the rails - but that so many don't."

Speaking of elders - Bishop Tutu was asked about the Elders, a group of senior statesmen and women that he chairs who work for peace and social justice causes throughout the world. Former President Jimmy Carter, former UN Chair Koffi Annan and the former President of Ireland are among the luminaries in the group. Tutu said that the group has been all over the world. President Carter is working in the Sudan for an election scheduled for April. Annan is working on issues of violence in that country. Other members of the group are addressing issues of AIDs and women's rights.