Today is United Nations Day. The words of the Secretary General of the United Nations: “We the peoples of the United Nations…” These are not just the opening words of the United Nations Charter – they define who we are. The United Nations is more than an institution. It is a living promise – spanning borders, bridging continents, inspiring generations. For eighty years, we have worked to forge peace, tackle poverty and hunger, advance human rights, and build a more sustainable world – together.”
Noble goals are not always popular or well-received by everyone. Greed, hatred, racism, and blind patriotism throw grit into the mechanisms of meaningful and harmonious comity. During the COVID-19 Pandemic, world leaders often reminded us — We are in this together. Modern space explorations often give us pictures of Planet Earth in contrast with the Cosmos. We live on a tiny boat spinning in the Universe. More than we are willing to admit, we all need each other.
People are different, communities are different, and countries are different. Nations represent their current leadership’s opinion, resulting in dramatic policy shifts. The United Nations, flawed as it is, allows an opportunity for open dialogue, understanding, and positive direction for the peoples of Planet Earth. Living together in symbiotic relationships is possible. Compromise, in the best sense of the word, is not only desirable, but also possible.
Compromise, too often, is seen as weak or flaccid. The root word comes from the early 15th Century: The sense of “a coming to terms, a settlement of differences by mutual concessions” is from extension to the settlement itself. The meaning “that which results from such an agreement.” To reach an agreement, there must be give and take. Both sides must be able to give as well as to receive.
According to Britannica, one of the greatest compromises was the Compromise of 1850. Compromise of 1850, in U.S. history, a series of measures proposed by the “great compromiser,” Sen. Henry Clay of Kentucky, and passed by the U.S. Congress in an effort to settle several outstanding slavery issues and to avert the threat of dissolution of the Union. The crisis arose from the request of the territory of California (December 3, 1849) to be admitted to the Union with a constitution prohibiting slavery. The Apostle Paul urged the Church at Rome to open your hearts to one another, as he worked to bring them into agreement.
©Copyright Willis H. Moore 2025