we took our teenage sons to the UN this week.

[redwitch]

took the tour, I hadn't been since the 8th grade, husband about the same, kids had never been there. It's a pretty amazing place but the shine has worn off for me. the exhibit of artifacts from Hiroshima, the land mines exhibit coupled with the photos of the world's children with awful looking weaponry, the problems seem insurmountable. The fact that the U.S. still hasn't ratified the land mines treaty sickens me. It really is a disgrace. Surely that is something that a civilized nation could get behind wholeheartedly.

When I first visited the UN in the 6th grade I remember thinking that this was the place where all the world's problems would be fixed. I believed then that peace and harmony would prevail. That the human race had such potential. The New York World's fair and Expo 67 gave me the same feelings. I couldn't wait to travel to all the wonderful countries whose citizens wore such beautiful costumes and made such wonderful art. Many of the countries I wanted to see are now war zones and the hope is disappearing. I feel sad.

[Demeter]

1. We Are On the Cusp of Great Change--Don't Despair

Teach your children well....and take as much joy from life as you can while it happens

[redwitch]

2. I hope you are right.

And my boys are great. They are well informed. They are also kind and compassionate. I worry about the effects of the ones who aren't.

[Lost-in-FL]

3. And this tapestry should be returned to Spain

It does not belong in the UN anymore.



Picasso's Guernica

[redwitch]

4. I think it should be required viewing every day by the UN membership

They need to remember.

[brentspeak]

5. Picasso was a great artist, but he wasn't much of a great human being

Anybody who goes out of his way during parties to put cigarettes out in his girlfriend's ear is a fine one to howl about the horrors of war.

[Monk06]

8. put cigarettes out in his girlfriend's ear ..... pray tell. I haven't

heard that one. Although his betrayal of Juan Gris
was a pretty low blow.

[Lost-in-FL]

13. Guernica is not about Picasso's

personal life or loss but about a town destroyed by hatred, the bombing of the town of Guernica by the Nazis. We all know how some artists have very "interesting" lives but I am talking about the symbolism of Guernica. He could have been an arrogant asshole but we can't deny that something terrible happened there, sort of like the conflicts that the UN has allowed to happen recently or the injustices the UN ignores.

[Olney Blue]

6. I took the UN tour for the first time about six months ago...

my tour guide was Japanese... it struck me that he talked about the world consensus at the UN regarding the
first Gulf war.. he was pointedly silent about current world events.

It was also interesting that other New York sites were packed with long lines, but very few Americans were there.. no line at all.

[redwitch]

10. our tour guide was a young German man

also silent about current events- but they could hardly be otherwise and keep their jobs

[Magical]

7. UN is a Tool

Being used as 'peacekeepers' after the West gets done with the 'demolitions' of whole countries.
Part of the New World Order...

[KoKo]

9. I know what you mean........... We have to hope that one day the UN will

achieve what we dreamed of as potential when we were innocent kids. I think it was a worthy dream but for years and years the US refused to pay their UN dues and we made sure (even though we didn't help them) that OUR vote along with "Great Britain" managed to HOG the whole place.

I think there are many "poseurs" there today. Look at John Bolton who was installed as a NeoCon Puppit and now doubt there are many other "Puppets" that countries participating find scurrelous and disgusting.

I still dream of a "Non-Partisan/FREE" UN where every country has a vote weighted to population ...but it ain't gonna happen that way because China and Asia would have huge sway. Yet...there must be a better way to do it than to have Bush and Blair RULING the WHOLE THING!

We need a place where "grievances can be addressed fairly." We have to hope for a future strengthening in some way that will bring us together and not be so ineffective and late to the conflict as they currently seem.

[riverwalker]

11. The Childrens Choir

I remember a long, long, long time ago, every Christmas season on Ed Sullivan or one of the other variety shows, would have a UN children's choir. There would be about a hundred children from all over the world, all dressed in various garb of their nation, every color, every creed. They would sing "let there be peace on earth, and let it begin with me" and the camera would focus on each of those beautiful faces. I would bawl and blubber like a baby, it always moved me so. To this day, when I think of the UN, I think of that choir.

[Poppyseedman]

12. The UN is a relic of an idea that has long passed

it's usefulness.

Yes, it is sad to behold the corruption and political sleaze that now fills the place.

Turn it in a hotel and start again with the concept of being part of it you MUST have FREEDOM and LIBERTY as your governments clear written objective.