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| Let Us Beat Swords into Plowshares by Yevgeny Vuchetlich, 1959 |
In days to come the mountain of the Lord’s house shall be
established as the highest of the mountains, and shall be raised above the
hills; all the nations shall stream to it. Many peoples shall come and say, “Come, let us go up to the
mountain of the Lord, to the house of the God of Jacob;
that he may teach us his ways and that we may walk in his paths.” For out of
Zion shall go forth instruction, and the word of the Lord
from Jerusalem. He shall judge between the nations, and shall arbitrate for many
peoples; they shall beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into
pruning hooks; nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall
they learn war any more. O house of Jacob, come, let us walk in the light of the Lord!
Isaiah 2:2-5
At
the United Nations building in New York City there is a statue of a man beating
a giant sword into a plowshare. The sculpture, titled, “Let Us Beat Swords into
Plowshares,” was created by Evgeniv Vuchetich and given as a gift by the Soviet
Union in 1959.
When
President Reagan addressed the United Nations General Assembly in 1987, he
began by describing the journey that brought the delegates and the nations
together as a kind of pilgrimage, and then he said, “We come from every
continent, every race, and most religions to this great hall of hope . . .”
Near
the conclusion of his address, speaking specifically to the Soviet Union as
well as to the whole assembly, he asked,
“Cannot swords be turned to plowshares? Can we and all nations not live in peace? In our obsession with antagonisms of the moment, we often forget how much unites all the members of humanity. Perhaps we need some outside, universal threat to make us recognize this common bond. I occasionally think how quickly our differences world-wide would vanish if we were facing an alien threat from outside this world. And yet, I ask you, is not an alien force already among us? What could be more alien than war and the threat of war?”
In
tone and in substance, President Reagan's speech stands in sharp contrast to
the speech recently given by our current president in which he vowed to
"totally destroy" North Korea if the United State had to defend
itself.
"Rocket Man is on a suicide
mission for himself and for his regime," Mr. Trump
declared. "The United States is ready, willing and able, but hopefully
this will not be necessary. That's what the United Nations is all about; that's
what the United Nations is for. Let's see how they do."
The
United Nations Charter was ratified on October 24, 1945. Today is United
Nations Day. When I was a boy we celebrated United Nations Sunday in church
every year.
My
guess is that most people don’t know that today is United Nations Day. And we
do not have many political leaders who would speak of the U.N. assembly room as
“this great hall of hope.”
Over
the years the United Nations has been relentlessly vilified and marginalized by
politicians. Some see it as simply ineffective and others see it as a threat to
our sovereignty. In a book called “The Black Helicopters Are Coming!” political
commentator Dick Morris’ claimed that President Obama was plotting to have the
United States invaded by the United Nations. Morris admitted that “it sounds
crazy,” but insisted that it was really going to happen.
It
doesn’t just sound crazy. It really and truly is crazy. But this is where we
are.
The
truth is that the United Nations has not lived up to our highest hopes, but its
achievements have still been significant.
Over
the last seventy-two years small wars have been constant and the resulting
deaths and injuries have been staggering. On the other hand, we have avoided
massive world wars, and that is no small achievement. The second half of the
twentieth century was much more peaceful than the first half. And the United
Nations must take some share of the credit for that.
In
spite of its obvious limitations, the world is a better place because of the
United Nations, and on United Nations Day I want to touch briefly on a few of
the U.N. organizations that have fostered international progress and
understanding.
The
Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) is organized to reduce hunger worldwide
through improving agricultural productivity and raising levels of nutrition.
The International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) is similarly
targeted to reduce rural poverty in developing nations by funding relief efforts.
The
International Maritime Organization (IMO) promotes global cooperation to
improve maritime safety and decrease marine pollution.
The
International Monetary Fund (IMF) acts as a forum for discussing global
financial issues and provides loans to developing countries.
The
United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO)
promotes world peace and security by fostering international cooperation in
education, science and culture. They promote the fundamental freedoms endorsed in
the UN Charter.
And
then there are some UN organizations that require no further description: the
World Health Organization (WHO), the World Trade Organization (WHO), the
International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), the Organization for the Prohibition
of Chemical Weapons (OPCW), and the World Bank Group (WBG) which includes five
sub-groups focused on promoting development and reconstruction.
It
is an impressive list. Together they promote an international strategy for
beating swords into plowshares.
Thank
you for reading. Your thoughts and comments are always welcome. Please feel
free to share on social media as you wish.
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