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Dag Hammarskjöld - The UN was not created to take humanity to heaven, but to save it from hell · the Daily Quote - Positive Daily Inspiration and Motivational Quote of the Day

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  Dot com Welcome to the Daily Quote, a podcast designed to
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  kick start your day in a positive way.
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  I'm your host, Anna McGivern for October 24th.
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  Today is United Nations Day, an annual observance that
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  commemorates the founding of the United Nations on October 24th,
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  1945. On this day, 80 years ago, the
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  UN Charter officially entered into force after being ratified
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  by the majority of its signatories, including the five
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  permanent members of the Security Council.
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  The United Nations was born from the ashes of World War 2, when
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  delegates from 51 countries gathered to create an
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  international organization dedicated to maintaining peace
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  and security, protecting human rights, delivering humanitarian
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  aid, an upholding international law.
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  In 1947, the UN General Assembly declared October 24th as the day
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  to make known the aims and achievements of the United
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  Nations and gain support for its work.
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  What makes United Nations Day significant is its reminder that
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  despite our differences in language, culture and politics,
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  the nations of the world can come together around shared
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  values and common goals. Today, the UN consists of 193
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  member states working collectively to address
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  challenges that no single nation can solve alone.
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  And that brings us to today's quote from former UN Secretary
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  General Dag Hammerschel, who once said the UN was not created
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  to take humanity to heaven, but to save it from hell.
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  Hammerschuld's blunt observation captures the realistic yet
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  essential mission of the United Nations.
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  He understood that the UN isn't about creating a perfect world.
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  It's about preventing the worst from happening.
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  It's about stopping wars, preventing genocide, delivering
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  food to the starving, and providing refuge for those
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  fleeing violence. Think about what saving humanity
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  from hell really means. It means UN peacekeepers
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  standing between warring factions.
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  It means refugee agencies providing shelter to millions
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  displaced by conflict. It means health organizations
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  coordinating responses to pandemics.
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  It means diplomats working tirelessly to prevent conflicts
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  from escalating. These aren't glamorous tasks,
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  and they don't always succeed. But they represent humanity's
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  collective commitment to preventing the kinds of
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  catastrophes that marked the first half of the 20th century.
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  Hamerschold himself embodied this mission.
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  He died in 1961 in a plane crash while on a peace mission to the
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  Congo, literally giving his life in service to preventing further
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  violence. He knew the UN wasn't perfect,
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  but he also knew it was necessary.
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  United Nations Day reminds us that global cooperation, however
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  imperfect, is preferable to the alternative.
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  A world where nations act purely in self-interest, where the
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  strong dominate the weak, and where there's no international
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  forum for peaceful resolution of conflicts.
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  So today, think about Hammerschold's wisdom and what
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  the United Nations represents. How can you contribute to the
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  work of preventing hell and promoting peace in your own
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  sphere of influence? Maybe it's supporting
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  organizations that do humanitarian work.
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  Maybe it's learning about global issues and advocating for
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  policies that promote peace and cooperation.
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  Maybe it's simply approaching disagreements in your own life
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  with the spirit of diplomacy rather than conflict.
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  EU NS work reminds us that peace isn't the absence of
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  disagreement. It's the presence of systems and
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  commitments that help us resolve disagreements without violence.
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  Every time we choose dialogue over conflict, cooperation over
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  confrontation, we're embodying EU NS mission in our daily
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  lives. That's it for today.
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  Thanks for listening. I'm Andrew McGivern, signing off
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  for now, but I'll be back tomorrow.
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  Same pod time, same pod station with another daily quote.