Of Bears and Penguins

No audio of the speech today, so the merits must be weighed on the sense of the words and sentiments.
In my earliest knowledge of Wilson, I remember feeling badly that the man had worked so diligently on the League only to be thwarted by his homeland in its failure to ratify the document, later this feeling of sympathy gave way to a sense that Wilson must have been out of touch with the country - and thus not a very good president. Still, might not a president be called upon to set aside the immediate desires of his country in order to choose a course that will better benefit them in the long run.

The world had just come through the horror of trench warfare - an entire generation lost. It is tempting to muse what might have happened had the world really thrown it's weight behind the League of Nations, particularly when in the penultimate paragraph he speaks of a power using land for it's European purposes. He is obviously talking about colonialism, but one's mind quickly jumps to Hitler's lebensraum. Would that progression have been stopped had the world truly formed a league of peace, willing to get involved in the matters because the concord of the world was at stake? When Wilson called the document a guranty against things which nearly brought civilization to ruin, could he even have imagined the destruction of the atom bomb or the fear of MAD?

Who knows? It's a fruitless question, and the answer is probably not. I don't think any country was willing to sacrifice its interests for the sake of the league of peace - how much use could it be if you'd already fought the war to end all wars. The situation reminds that some sacrifice is required in order to reach larger purposes. This lesson however, seems perpetually hard to learn. Even as the developed nations are calling for alternatives fuels and reduced emissions, India is seeking to develop a national car affordable for its citizens. The argument is put in print that those nations think they should have the same opportunity as their developed cousins - still all humans know that it's best to learn from the mistakes of others if you can, sometimes that means giving up what we want to gain what is better.

What else could Wilson have imagined? Coule he have thought that there would come a day when things would be instantly publishable?

We may not always get it right, but surely it's something if we keep trying to improve. The league of nations is not an obsolete idea, nor the United Nations an antiquated body if we choose for them not to be. Who can really argue with a league dedicated to the peace of the world?

Wilson's optimism shines through in his speech, and as in previous speeches there has been a call to become something better and more noble than what we are currently - and I think this is what endures in these speeches, the challenge to become what we believe we could be.