Saturday, October 08, 2011

Not Just Three Women

In my reading yesterday I came across an article regarding the latest award of the Nobel Peace Prize and skipped it entirely, uninterested. The Nobel Peace Committee lost any trace of credibility with me when it awarded its prize to a one-term U.S.Senator who had just been elected as President and who had made a single speech.

That is not hindsight, I was appalled by the selection at the time, and was patriotically embarrassed by his acceptance speech. History has proven how singularly inappropriate that selection was.

I did notice that the award was to three women, and went back to see what that was about. I’m all for the advancement of women’s equality and for greater recognition of their accomplishments, and to make such prestigious award “in an attempt to bolster the role of women in struggles to bring democracy to nations suffering from autocratic rule and civil strife,” is an interesting one.

I found myself regaining respect for the committee, as this award rose above the individuals and acknowledged something greater than personal effort and achievement. Nobel’s legacy was more than reward, he espoused the promotion of world peace, and in making this award the committee may have done more toward that end than it has done in many years.

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