-28 °C and rising

This one is especially for Rob, who expressed his interest in reading an essay written in English by a Finnish high school student the other day. Well, here comes! I have written the following text on my very last A-level English course in high school, and it was returned to me today, scored 99/99. I think I succeeded well, but what do you native speakers think? (It looks longer on paper, by the way.)

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Can one person change the world for the better?

The Finnish presidential candidate Pekka Haavisto is, not just as an openly homosexual politician but because of his long and successful political career, perhaps one of the most outstanding and remarkable opinion leaders there are in Finland. Though hailing from the Greens, Haavisto is not a usual green bonehead: he can conciliate with sense.

The ability to make compromises, listening to other people and discussing intelligently are quite rare in one person, but Haavisto handles it all. When having a conversation, Haavisto tries his best to find the things that unite, not separate all the opponents taking part in the conversation. Haavisto's top one weapon is building peace, not spreading discord, and that is what makes him so outstanding and significant power player; he can look up to the opponents and their contentions.

Being sincere and open are also just part of the function that makes Haavisto so prominent a politician: as he himself belongs to a minority, he's at a good position to hear what the minorities have to say and then reconcile the possible quarrels between them and the major population without raising an unbearable fiery hell. That sure requires skill, but that's what Haavisto has gained during his challenging peacemaker years in the Middle East.

Perhaps Pekka Haavisto and his sexual orientation do not please everybody, and he can't change the whole world, but as only a baccalaureate he has achieved a lot, attracted a many and, as the most important of his accomplishments, built peace where it has seemed to be impossible - in Finland and abroad.