| [GMW
#3200 - 3299 Annex] The Power Of Dreams
Friday January 2, 2015, Editor: Easy
The Power of Dreams
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Dreams help to imagine a desired result and to devise the necessary
steps.
I have often observed during my life that dreams can have an important effect on the destiny of a person or of a nation. I remember in this respect an anecdote which concerns my compatriot Robert Schuman, the father of the European Union. Schuman and his family, like mine, had greatly suffered from the constant shifts of Alsace-Lorraine between France and Germany. He was born in a place where three borders touch each other, namely those of France, Germany and Luxembourg. Young Schuman was greatly annoyed by this irksome geography which impeded his freedom of movement, especially as he loved bicycling but constantly ran into a border. He dreamt of being able to do something about it when a grownup. During the First World War the Germans drafted him into their army and during the Second they imprisoned him. After World War II he became active in French politics as one of the leaders of the Christian Democratic Party and was appointed Minister of Foreign Affairs. This happened at a time when several crucial questions were confronting Europe: would there be a reconciliation between France and Germany? Could there be a united Europe? Jean Monnet, a businessman who had headed the allied supplies to Europe in World War II, prepared a bold plan for a European steel and coal community as a prelude to a broader European economic community. He presented it to Robert Schuman, hoping that he would endorse it, give it his name as the Schuman Plan and initiate the reconciliation between France and Germany. During one of his visits to the United Nations in New York, Schuman told me that he had the plan for several days on his desk but could not arrive at a decision, for he was neither a steel and coal expert nor an economist. "Then one morning I woke up and remembered how annoyed I was as a youth to constantly run into a border when I rode my bicycle. I swore to myself that if I could do something about it as a grownup I would do it. That dream came back to my mind. This was the opportunity or never to fulfill it. I went to my office and signed the plan without any further hesitation." I myself had sent to Schuman a copy of my thesis on the Saar Territory in which I urged statesmen not to let this area become another bone of contention between France and Germany, as Alsace-Lorraine had been for so long. He said to me: "Your book on the Saar is my bedside reading and you can rest assured that I will not let this problem stand between Dr. Adenauer and me." Indeed, it was during Robert Schuman's ministry that France's plans to annex the Saar or to make it an independent state were abandoned and that the Saar problem was settled once and for all. A second anecdote concerns former Chancellor Willy Brandt of West Germany. When he was Mayor of West Berlin, he conceived the dream of solving the German problem, of reconciling the two Germanies, of facilitating human communications between the two and of bringing them into the United Nations. I often discussed the German problem with UN Secretary General U Thant and once I asked him if he thought that the initiative to solve it came from Mr. Willy Brandt himself or from other quarters. U Thant was firmly convinced that it was Mr. Brandt's own idea. Then, one day Mr. Willy Brandt came to New York and paid a visit to U Thant. I remember his surprise at meeting a German-speaking collaborator of the Secretary General at a time when Germany was not yet a member of the United Nations. I told him that the United Nations and international organizations were a place of predilection for Alsace-Lorrainers who had suffered so much from the quarrels between France and his country. During the conversation U Thant remembered my question and he put it to Mr. Brandt: "Was it you who took the initiative for the talks between East and West Germany or was it part of other political considerations?" "I took the initiative. It was one of my first steps when I became Chancellor. I remember that when I informed my collaborators of my decision, they told me that it was impossible. I answered that it was not because something looked impossible that one should not try. On the contrary." Mr. Brandt was entirely right, as the German treaty and the reunification and entry of the two Germanies as one Germany into the United Nations proved later. I have often noted that the determination of prominent personalities to work for peace or for the solution of particularly thorny problems usually rests on some deeply felt event or experience during their youth. Thus, the tragic fate of Austria, which disappeared from the map under Hitler, influenced the decision of Kurt Waldheim, as he told me, to seek the Secretary Generalship of the United Nations and to exert relentless efforts at peace and world co-operation. One also thinks of that other untiring negotiator, traveler and champion for peace, Henry Kissinger. When he became Secretary of state he used these words in his acceptance speech: "There is no country in the world where it is conceivable that a man of my origin could be standing here next to the President of the United States. If my origin can contribute anything to the formulation of our policy it is that at an early age I have seen what can happen to a society that is based on hatred and strength and distrust and that I experienced then what America means to other people in its hopes and ideals." Most good things that have happened to humanity were the results of dreams and visions. The greater the obstacles, the stronger must be the dream. Many world problems are so difficult that they require a state of dreams, elevation or exaltation which alone helps the statesmen to imagine boldly the desired result and to conceive the necessary means. This is how all great plans were born. Alas, there are not enough great dreamers in the world today. We need audacious dreams by leaders to bring about permanent peace, order, justice, well-being and happiness for all peoples in the world. "Impossible," will exclaim the eternal pessimists. The answer should be that of Mr. Brandt: "It is not because something looks impossible that one should not try. On the contrary." More from Robert Muller: RobertMuller.org Subscribe to/or unsubscribe from Robert Muller's GoodMorningWorld.org Click on any of these tags-labels to see more entries from Robert that have the tag-label: |
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