Give a summary of Laurence's "My Final Hour".

Give a summary of Laurence's "My Final Hour".
Ans. At the outset, Laurence admits to being nervous in presenting her personal belief before would-be clergymen graduating from Trent University. She feels the need to have a physical prop to lean on. At the same time, she feels, she needs a spiritual prop, i.e. a strong faith that will sustain her. In the next paragraph, Laurence suggests that as we grow old we should not feel inhibited by endeavours, but we should become more radical and struggle for things passionately believe in. She feels happy to see that the old and the young alike are feeling concerned about the "state of our endangered world" and are Laurence to list the dangers being faced by the world today, namely injustice, suffering and fear. Despite these dangers, she feels there is still hope for mankind. She affirms her personal belief in the social gospel and in the Lord's commandment that says we should love our ourselves. our limitations or accept defeat in our we hurting and rising to save it. This quite naturally leads neighbours like Laurence then comments on two world events that changed the face of the earth. First, the dropping of atom bombs, by America, on the Japanese cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki in 1945, which caused unbelievable annihilation and established beyond doubt man's dreadful ability to destroy himself and his earth (though people still hope the earth would endure through all disasters, a hope belied by the appearance of nuclear arms); and second, the Holocaust in Europe when the Nazis exterminated millions of Jews and proved how little human lives mattered to world leaders. Despite these two catastrophes, world leaders are contemplating fighting atomic bomb. using nuclear weapons that are far more deadly than the a war To strengthen her case against the use of nuclear weapons, Laurence quotes Dr. Helen Caldicott as saying that America and Russia now have
enough nuclear arms to "overkill every person on earth 16 times", and that it will not only kill 90 per cent of Americans if Russia strikes first or vice-versa, but people in many other countries would also die. Laurence expresses astonishment at the enormous amounts of money being spent on the production of nuclear arms-amounts which, if properly utilised, could supply enough fresh water to everyone in the world or eradicate malaria from the face of the earth. In concluding her speech, Laurence makes two points - one, that a person must affirm life and, therefore, we should all actively commit ourselves to saving the world by bringing about nuclear disarmament; and two, that an artist must commit to the generations of the future and, therefore, she as a writer feels it her responsibility to write truthfully about the dilemmas being faced by individuals everywhere and to ensure that the succeeding generations live to inherit the wonderful achievements of the human mind.