A Nobel Joke

February 4, 2010  
Filed under Opinion

The world is based on results. I wish I could keep my grades up if I told my teachers that I inspired hope and spoke to some of my estranged classmates in hopes of ending our conflicts. But, sadly, that is not the way the real world works. To keep good grades or keep your job, you need to deliver something measureable, not just good ideas. The only thing that hope and good ideas will get you is a Noble Peace Prize

It’s a sad statement, and one that’s downright disrespectful to past winners of the award. People like the Dali Lama, who fought for the freedom of his people, or Desmond Tutu who fought to end racism and apartheid. Not Barack Obama, who was given his medal for “his extraordinary efforts to strengthen international diplomacy and cooperation between peoples.” The key word there is effort. Not results, not anything that changes peoples’ lives for the better. That’s like an “A” for effort. A Nobel Peace Prize for trying.

The most telling piece of information is that Obama himself said he didn’t deserve the award. He said that he did not feel he was worthy of the company that winning the award would place him with, in a statement he read at the White House the day of the announcement.

Perhaps the award could be explained by the lack of candidates. Maybe it was just a week year for peace. But surely there was someone who’s done something somewhere, because Barack Obama hasn’t.

—–
Schuyler Foulke

Tags:

 Email This Post        Print This Post