W in the UN
This morning was the opening of the 58th Session of the General Assembly of the United Nations. Leaders of several countries spoke for a few moments each. Among them were His Excellency Mr. Luiz Inácio Lula Da Silva, President of the Federative Republic of Brazil, His Excellency Mr. George W. Bush, President of the United States of America, and His Excellency Mr. Jacques Chirac, President of the French Republic. (The honorifics are directly from the UN website) I can only imagine how W must have felt being addressed as His Excellency. A dream come true, no doubt. What was most noteworthy about the remarks in general was the tenor of each speaker’s delivery.
Mr. De Silva spoke fervently and eloquently of international cooperation and multi-lateralism, worldwide improvement of the human condition, and peace as social justice. He outlined projects undertaken in Brazil to better the lives of their poor and disenfranchised.
Mr. Chirac additionally stressed the global vision of the United Nations and its unique position as a forum for discussion and resolution of international political, economic, and humanitarian problems which plague today’s societies. His speech was also one of conviction and deliberation of thought.
Mr. Bush’s remarks were a true disappointment to this humble listener. He opened with an account, once again the attacks of September 11, 2001. He followed up by citing Saddam Hussein as backer of terrorists accompanied by the specious claim of his possession weapons of mass destruction. (Who gave him those weapons again?)His remarks at times read like a junior high school student’s essay, which, required to be of a certain length, contained lists of locations and facts designed to fill out his allotted time. His general message was not one of vision, but of retribution, and was barely underlain with a spirit of venality. He did not extend an open hand to the world, but a closed fist. He attacked the proliferation of weapons of mass murder, while the US is in the process of designing newer and more horrible such devices. He outlined a philosophy oriented toward destruction, not construction. His opportunity today to lift the United States in the eyes of the world community was a wasted one. A leader without a truly positive vision for the future cannot help but lead us to the opposite.
I close with two quotes. The first, from Mohandas Gandhi, “I object to violence because when it appears to do good, the good is only temporary; the evil it does is permanent.” The second, from John Boyes, “Violence in the voice is often only the death rattle of reason in the throat.”
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