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."
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