EXTRACTS OF MESSAGES TO KEO

… "I envy the people in the future when they find the capsule and read the billion letters from all the people. I hope it will help them feel they have it good, or that they could have done better. Either way it will help them to realize how clever we really are. I tingle with excitement every time I think that people from the far, far future will be reading my letter and realizing what it was really like in those days. Thank you for saving a little space for my letter in your wonderful satellite"…

Jackson, 14 years, Spain

… "Today is October 11th 1999. Tomorrow Earth's population is expected to be 6 billion. I live in Amman, Jordan. I am of Palestinian origin. I'm 15 years old and I'm the youngest in my family…I am a Muslim. Jordan (The Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan) is ruled by King Abdullah the Second. After three years I'm going to graduate from high school, and I'm planning to study computer science like my brother and my dad… Best wishes for all"

Faris, 14 years, Jordan

… "I am 29 this year 1999 and I was born in the year 1970. It's great that you all can read this as I have so much to tell you…if you are my grand-grand-grand children etc. that means I have finally married…to who I am not too sure"…

Jon, 29 years, Malaysia

"I just want the future to be a wonderful place to live. Peaceful, calm, no pollution, no war, no unhappiness. Where every living thing are friends and all live together. That's all for my message"…

Oran, 12 years, Thailand

"I hope that in the future will be more love and peace on Earth. That people stop any wars and will not use any weapons. That all the countries will be one big and friendly power…Please remember me and my family… Good luck, descendants!!!"… Alexei, 24, Russia … "The real voyage of a new discovery begins not with visiting new places, but in seeing familiar landscapes with new eyes"…

Leonid, 21 years, Israel

… "I am 16 year old and I hope to have more luck in my studies. I don't like study. I want to be in the next 10 years a rich girl (I hope) because I want to travel to all the countries in this world and I also wish to buy a car hmm…I want a BMW and a Ferrari… I hope to marry a good family and I also want to live in peace".

Saleema, 16 years, Kuwait

"I will be 83 years old in mid-October of this year. My life span has provided a plenitude of scientific advances and changes in life styles along with humanity's varied responses. Both continue to be remarkable. Life on Earth is a true wonderment!"

Priscilla, 83 years, USA

"I am 8 yrs old. I live in south africa. this is my message… I hope that there is world peace and no more famine's etc. every 1 should take care of our MOTHER EARTH thank u !"

Shozhen, 8 years, South Africa

… "For breakfast, I eat a bowl of cereal (wheat flakes or muesli) with skim milk. I walk to work and carry a bag containing tests, corrections etc. Most people drive to their place of work but I prefer to get the exercise. At School, I teach Religion, Maths, Social Studies, Science, Art, English and handwriting"…

JJ. Australia

"… At the age of 5, I went to a residential school for the blind, which I regard as one of the greatest blessings of my existence because if I had stayed at home, I would not have had the chance for a decent education. So I am spending my life in expanding this blessing in every way I can…"

Anne, 5 years, USA

"… So I have a prayer for our future generations: That you treat your children like the precious gifts that they are. Teach them to respect and love themselves, teach them to love, and to be tolerant of each other. We do that by example, because we have learned that children imitate the behaviors that are presented to them, educate them, give them hope, and keep them healthy. Yes, every child is worth the effort…"

Teresa, 46 years, USA

"… Dear Future Beings, I am writing to you with optimistic hope that you exist, that you have the science and technology to decipher this, and that you have the incentive and freedom to do so. One of my great interests is paleontology. It is ironic that if my physical remains exist at all now, they are probably in the form of fossils-similar to those fossils that have decorated my home…"

Chris, 45 years, USA

"… I am 10 years old. I am living in a time that's 50,000 years apart from your time. You got my letter from a time capsule that floated around in space for 50,000 years! (I'm not lying, really). My letter was in the time capsule with many other letters, photos and a diamond with soil, air, water…"

Michelle, 10 years, Canada

"… I'll tell you how to make hamburgers. You need: 1 pound ground lean beef 1 teaspoon salt 1/2 teaspoon pepper 1 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce 4 tomato slices (if you like them)…"

Joshua, 10 years, Canada

"… I also think my Dad is very very important because he's my parent and he means a lot t o me. I wouldn't be able to tie my shoes if I didn't have him because he taught me how to tie my shoes. My Dad also taught me how to wink, swim, fish and canoe. I think my Mom is very very important too, because, she gave birth to me. She taught me how to walk and talk, use computers, numbers, sing, write, and to read. I think my Mom is the best mom in the world…"

Scott, 9 years, Canada

"… Remember what Mark Twain said: Mauritius was made first, then heaven, and God copied heaven to the image of Mauritius. Love your country. Invest in education. Do not encourage communalism. Take lessons from our mistakes…"

Farahnaz, 22 years, Mauritius

"… First of all, this can't be imagined at this time this message will be read after 50,000 of 2003. But by the wish of our God " ALLAH" as Moslems every thing is possible. So if you come to read my message just remember that 50,000 years ago there were human beings living here who have all the feelings but always like the feeling of love as this feeling is an everlasting one, love will never die and stay for ever even after the death of the beloved. I want you to know that despite all the obstacles and circumstances that might stop the flow of love emotion, real love will remain forever. I been in love but due to circumstances of differences between societies rich and poor I could not marry my beloved one…"

Hani, 35 years, Saudi Arabia

"… My mother was born in Antwerp, Belgium on 6th of October 1947. She had a pretty normal childhood though she lived in total absence of relatives. All of her relatives were decimated and turned to ashes in the German concentration camps during the second world war. She met my father on a trip to "Terra Sancta" or the Holy Land…"

Rafael, 28 years, Belgium

"…Actually sometimes I wonder why am I myself. Why am I not the hawker selling chicken rice down the street, the bus driver or even my good friend Josephine? What is it that causes me to think, analyse or have a conscience? I know scientists will come up with the explanation of neurons, nerves electrical messages and even genes…"

Ong, 19 years, Singapore

"…She's just a very ordinary Chinese girl, but I really loved her at first sight. Her sound is the best one that I've ever heard. She is the most beautiful lady in the world that I've ever met. She has the most pure heart that I've ever seen. Anyway, in the past year, she's the goddess of my world. In other words, she's my world. Although she's never loved me, I love her. I gave all of mine to her. But from the start till the end, she had no feeling for me. May be she's the coldest girl in the world, or maybe I'm the most bad, ugly, terrible boy in the world…"

Aslan, 17 years, China

" Hope is what we are looking for, the hope that this earth will be a better place to live, the hope that people will have a better attitude toward life…the hope that next generation will heal the wounds that our generation has caused…"

Mohamed, 40 years, Lebanon

" I was born in Afghanistan but live in Canada. If in 50 000 years, people still inhabit this world my message to you would be to please become blind to the plagues of human suffering that have devoured our planet for many millennia. I hope that in the future you see humanity and its diversity in one unified color and that you have abolished the racism and the stereotypes that your ancestors were guilty of. I hope that you live in peace and that you have stepped into a light unparalleled to the dark manifestation that exists in my time. I hope…and wish…you are different. Walekumasalam..."

Tamim, 18 years, Canada

" Life is a precious thing and we as human beings must cherish what we have now, for it is not all the creatures who have the pleasure of living like us. We humans are the only animals on earth who have the best developed faculty of reason and we must utilise it for the benefit of all beings on this planet…"

Ngaujake, 23 years, Namibia

" Today I sit before this marvel of "Internet" developed just over a decade ago trying to speculate on how much easier it has made everything and also feeling amazed at how much human mind has achieved. I feel proud to be a human and also feel great to be an INDIAN, the country to which I belong…"

Anil, 25 years, India