You'll forgive me if I switch the subject briefly. I'm not generally one to follow current events in detail, for nothing all that out-of-the-ordinary ever happens, but now that something has, I think I should at least acknowledge it. The Nobel Peace Prize has only been awarded to organizations 24 times; that is, it is not an everyday occurrence. (You can find a list here.) This year it was the European Union. Being a resident of this Union, I'd like congratulate it on its accomplishments.
It is clear to me that many of my fellow country-people will be scoffing at this. (If the awardee is an American scientist (or in a pinch, a foreign-born scientist working in America), the committee is spot on; if it isn't, well, they just hand the damn things out to anybody, right?) This is because, like so many people, they don't understand what the EU is nor what it means.
There are those who maintain that it has been the American military that has brought peace to Europe, but this is a superficial and rather meaningless assumption. Ever since the fall of the Soviet Empire (brought on more from within than without) there's been no need to have that military here, nor does NATO serve any reasonable purpose anymore. You can't fight ideas with bombs and bullets, though you'd never know that looking at current American foreign policy. It is also not the EU which is the object of abhorrence envisioned by extremists. Why might that be? Let's face it, Europe, the EU, is far from perfect, but what do they have, what ideal do they embody that might have moved the Nobel committee to make the decision.
Think about it: currently 27 member countries plus 5 already approved for entry plus 2 who have asked to be considered; 3 countries in the EFTA working in close cooperation; 23 official languages (growing to at least 28 in the foreseeable future, of which German is spoken by more people than any other single language (approx. 18%) and the biggest working language, English, is used in some form by just slightly more than half of the 300+ million population); and currently no "government" in the traditional sense of the word. What is more, there is every indication that more countries would like to join than leave: 47 countries have signed up to the Bologna Accords providing guidance to higher education, and 52 countries participate in the annual European Song Contest. Europe, it would seem is simply in the process of being "defined."
It may sound strange to those countries who are much more monolithic in culture, language, and political orientation, but what makes Europe Europe is not a geographic definition, nor an imposed political doctrine, nor a strong leader or government, and especially not a flag or hollow other symbols of a forgotten unity. No, Europe is a shared ideal. It is very different from person to person, that's for sure, but that only contributes to its richness. So, how do we manage to get it to work at all?
In my mind, there's only one way and it's the one I see every day: togetherness. Yes, an appreciation of diversity and a willingness to share, a larger-than-life portion of tolerance, and a shared belief that a cooperative future has much more going for it than a strictly competitive one.
I, for one, am very pleased with the Committee's decision this year. I think it was an excellent choice.
No comments:
Post a Comment