Revenge Strategy, Wasting the power of your hate on the guiltless (XXV): Learning to treasure and care for the United Nations.
A tiny espresso cup from my home. Photo by Eleonora Escalante.
So wonderful to write to you again. Let me start today’s post with a personal tiny experience. During this week I have been doing aquarelle exercises earlier in the morning. I believe that study and practice make us proficient in everything we wish to shine. I usually wake up fresh at around 4 am every day, instead of watching digital videos. I take my brushes and paper, and I dedicate 2 hours to coating with watercolor´pigments any of my exercise practice. Daily, I have a goal to improve in my paper canvas. Additionally, I also pray during this interval. It is my quotidian God´s reflection for the renovation of the spirit. Everything, meanwhile I wash the paper with watercolors.
Today, I would like to share a petit aquarelle I recently finished. Its name is “An Espresso coffee cup pouring miracles”. To draw it, I took divine guidance with a personal photo I took at home. This inspired me to paint a tiny ambar coffee cup with the flower (see the watercolor below. As you can see, there is a difference between the real coffee cup and the petit aquarelle. I have tried to embellish the simplicity of the cup container, respecting the attitude of my inspiration. This aquarelle idea opens the door for today´s content. In order to paint a beautiful canvas, any artist has to do the homework. It requires a lot of observation, study, and appreciation of the image to paint. It requires a lot of time to see and understand the art´s motif. At the end of the painting, we tend to love what we paint. That is what we should do with the United Nations, we need to learn and study it, in order to care for its role on the planet.
“An Espresso Coffee Cup pouring Miracles”. Original Aquarelle painted by Eleonora Escalante. El Salvador. Copyrights reserved. Painted on watercolor paper Canson Moulin du Roy-Fine Grain- 100% Cotton-300 GSM. Size: 11 inches x 7.5 inches
Let´s go to our pertinent today´s United Nations reflection. As I mentioned last week, now we will continue exploring the second reason of complexity in our cognitive process to understand the United Nations system. The UN is a complicated network of organizations and we are simply external beings to it. In order to understand the UN, we need to admit a fact: that we know nothing about the UN first. And this lack of knowledge about the United Nations’ role on the planet makes us empty to judge or to support it with our compliment and maintenance.
K-12 programs (primary, secondary or high-school) have no subjects or courses that help kids or teenagers to learn about the United Nations. In consequence, Generation X, Millennials and Generation Z or Centennials have been raised ignoring the UN foundations, the concept and the role of the United Nations during the last 74 years. Of course, the UN is mentioned in some social sciences books, but it passes irrelevant in terms of importance, in comparison to math equations or language or other sciences themes.
If this fact is true, how can we appreciate something that we do not know? It is difficult. On the surface, the United Nations reality can be observed by hitting its website. You will be delightful to read and watch digital videos about their work. But is that sufficient?
The WWII atrocities were the most frightening and dreadful circumstances that the silent generation breathed. The European Silent Generation (parents of the Baby Boomers) were the group of humans who lived, fought or experienced directly the WWII. Baby Boomers were the aftereffect biological group that profited straight the outcome or impact of what their parents savored. The Silent Generation and the younger Baby Boomers inherited the mission of building the United Nations as an entity to solve any war or frightening war on the planet. And they have been trying to do it, with their limitations and difficulties. With their lack of empowerment (sometimes). With a shortage of economic resources too.
If you wish to download the last slides PDF format, please click here: Eliescalante Revenge Strategy Some numbers about WWII
It is very hard to raise money for non-profit causes. Any fundraiser professional knows this. Money is a scarce resource. People tend to give in the direction of their own interests. Philanthropic causes are tied to the subjectivity of the ones who provide the wealth. In addition, it is very laborious for the United Nations organizations to find resources to end wars in remote places, particularly when the country donors have no interest. Baby Boomers relished WWII aftermath or at least the stories of their ancestors. Generation X, my span period, still holds some of that information in our brains. But Millennials as much as Generation Z, who have not lived in war contexts, do not perceive the “stop war urgency” as a reason for philanthropy. And the lack of knowledge about United nations in all post Baby Boomers´generations is deeply felt. We have to admit it. We know nothing about the UN. I reassure you that more than 80% of our generation have no idea of what is the role of the United Nations, how it functions, or why some of the UN entities´relatives have enormous budgets for other purposes than the core UN antiwar divisions.
As an example of a developing country, in my personal case, I never received one course or at least a subject of the United Nations at the K-12 level, universities, neither at the master’s MBA degree level (not at LBS, not at Cornell, not at MIT or Columbia either). I learned about the UN because I worked for the World Bank. And this happened just a decade ago.
My positive advice to reject ignorance about the United Nations is: every course of Social Sciences must include at least one month to cover the theme of United Nations studies at each scholar grade (from 1st to 12th grades). The depth and extension of the United Nations material must be escalating, thoughtful and intense in correlation to the school level at K-12. And in the Universities (regardless of the discipline or program), there must be a mandatory course for the United Nations discovering, in every single university and nation on earth. At the level of Master-PhD programs, it is likewise. For example, in my MBA experience, I believe London Business School must have included one mandatory course about United Nations, not at an information level, but as a core subject as much as accounting, statistics, finance or business strategy core courses. UN staff conferences should be included to share their experiences in that subject. Since each country in our universe has a UN office, it is time to consider this option seriously. Particularly, for the new generations to come, or those who are starting academy or university.
Finally, let me share the ultimate idea. At the level of those who have a surplus of resources (baby boomer donors and its descendants), the United Nations’ main objectives have to be respected. It is imperative to respect and help the United Nations to do their job with an extreme degree of ethics. UN Staff must show integrity and wholeness from the top of the head to the bottom of their feet. UN Staff, starting from the security guard who opens the door of the building to the top secretariat leader Antonio Guterres, from the field personnel at refugee´camps and antagonism territories, to each country employees in their tiny or big bureaus (NYC, The Hague, Geneva, etc); and at every single member of staff (external consultants and full-part time employees or interns). Each UN staff member must walk the United Nations mission with uprightness, honor, and probity.
- Antonio Guterres, the United Nations Secretary-General has warned that UN staff could go unpaid as member states fail to pay their contributions. Source: https://edition.cnn.com/2019/10/09/world/un-budget-crisis-scli-intl/index.html
The main role of the UN is to keep the peace on earth, and that missionary calling has to be respected and honored with funds beyond each country´s representative contribution. Private donations should flourish and overflow for the United Nations. The UN shouldn´t be precarious of funds. If the UN has integrity, it will be able to attract integrity too. Donors and country contributors also must respect the UN essential role.
In a world where huge market capitalization value companies as Amazon, Apple, Microsoft, Alphabet, Berkshire Hathaway, Tencent, Alibaba or other future nascent global corporations, show revenues or net profits which are 200 times bigger than the United Nations budget itself, it is easier to try to manage the UN as a puppet. Not good. The UN has to explore new ways to attract these behemoth powers as donors too. And these private donors must not try to manipulate the United Nations network of organizations for their own selfish agendas, whatever their philanthropy tastes or grounds, furthermore, regardless of the private donor justifications or personal campaigns. Philanthropy crusades are innumerable, and there is a patronage spot for all on the planet. But if the United Nations is not respected by the rulers of the world or money givers, we won´t be able to respect our own earth´s peace. What type of respect is being reflected for the next generations? What are we showing for keeping the peace in place? For example, whenever a donor is exploring the UN as a donation´s receiver for a certain cause… they should ask themselves, “Are we helping the United Nations to keep the peace in the world?”. Each person, country, philanthropist or corporation on earth who has an abundance or an excess of money should respect and honor the United Nations’ main role.
Currently, climate change is also significant. It can be a trigger for people’s conflicts or massive destruction. And the United Nations has to define its priorities on how will it manage the philanthropy for environmental protection, preservation, and promotion, all WITHOUT leaving their core charge. The main backbone of the UN is and will always be to keep the peace. Do not forget it.
This is all for today. Next week we will continue with the Smoot-Hawley Tariff Act as a new example of revenge strategies throughout our times. This example is crucial for us because we are paving the frames to understand the most current contemporary China-US commercial war, a theme to cover by the end of this saga.
Stay with me, please. Thank you.
Sources of reference utilized for this publication:
https://ceoworld.biz/2019/06/28/the-top-100-best-performing-companies-in-the-world-2019/
Disclaimer: Illustrations in Watercolor are painted by Eleonora Escalante. Other types of illustrations or videos (which are not mine) are used for educational purposes ONLY. Nevertheless, the majority of the pictures, images or videos shown on this blog are not mine. I do not own any of the lovely photos or images posted unless otherwise stated.
Eleonora Escalante Strategy 