Wednesday 14 October 2009

Oh bummer! He just won the Nobel

'I thought the only thing you get for making empty speeches on world peace was Miss World'

- A post on Twitter


Alfred Nobel was a rather clever guy. The inventor of the dynamite didn't want himself to be remembered as the angel of death. And so he left a handsome amount of his estate to establish the Nobel prizes. It sounds pretty similar to what Einstein did. He spent half his life working on an apparently innocuous looking equation. And the other half trying to quell the destruction caused by it. Coming back to Nobel and his prizes, I feel the jury proved to be a step ahead of the master himself.


When Barack Hussein Obama was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize, the world looked on in shock. After all, what did the first citizen of the world do in a mere nine months to merit such an honour? And to have his name in the same bracket as Nelson Mandela and Mother Teresa? I then read that at the time the nominations for the prize were filled, Obama had just completed his first week in office. And then it dawned on me. It wasn't Obama who won the prize. It was the President of America! The jury could have so easily given the award to some activist protecting exotic species of birds in the Amazon rain forests or to some global warming activist. But instead they chose to give it to someone, who over the next few years will take vital decisions with regards to world peace. And every time he has to make such a decision, the fact that he has been credited with such an honour will definitely be at the back of his mind. And this can only be good for the rest of us.

Obama didn't win it for what he did, but rather for what he can and should do!

1 comment:

Gloria said...

Hey Shawn, thanks for visiting and leaving comments for me:)

Love your viewpoint on the award of this prize. It's the most balanced one I've read so far!!

You have stirred my curiosity and I will be back to read more of your earlier posts . . hope they're as good!

Where's your followers gadget . . I think I'd like to follow you . . . ;-D!!

Will be back soon . . have a great weekend.