Action, not words

Anyone who knows me knows that I love the UN: I want to work for that organization one day, and I truly believe that it has the potential to lead the world into a peaceful and universally prosperous future. So it pains me to witness the recent crises that the UN has suffered through, particularly with regards to its leadership in Kofi Annan, a man I greatly respect. However, issues such as the preparation of this new reform document are starting to frustrate me, and are yet another blow, I believe, to the UN's integrity.

Ultimately, I think the measure of an institution's effectiveness and relevancy has to be in its actions; does it actually change the world around it for the better? Unfortunately, the UN has become a massive, static bureaucracy that now has its largest and most important body struggling to prepare a document that will outline possible changes to the organization itself so that it might be more effective in the future. I understand the sad irony; because of the UN's structure and practices, this reform process is a necessary use of the UN's resources so that its resources can be used more appropriately. That realization does not make it any less frustrating.

Examples of organizations I consider effective are NATO (cf. Kosovo intervention) and OPEC (cf. oil incomes of member countries). These bodies act; they care less about what is actually written down, and care more about what is actually going on. I can only hope that the reforms under consideration will give the UN a new focus on action and, by throwing off the red-tape bindings of bureaucracy, help save our forests as well.