I'm Disgusted Today

I’m sick to my stomach today. And it has nothing to do with the mess the dog surprised me with this morning when I walked into our kitchen at 6AM. However, the stench is eerily similar to the one that has been brought to my attention today by the major news wires reporting this year’s recipients of the Nobel peace prize.

Al Gore, Jr. has been awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for….are you ready…his so-called documentary, An Inconvenient Truth. Mr. Gore shares the Nobel distinction along with the U.N.’s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change- or IPCC, for short. YAHOO! News reports that the reason these two were chosen was “for their efforts to spread awareness of man-made climate change and to lay the foundations for fighting it.”

Say what? I thought Alfred Nobel’s original plan was to promote world peace (with this particular award) when he left his entire fortune in trust to the foundation that bears his name? What in the world does weather have to do with peace in the world? If anything, this idea of global warming has caused the single most stress in many people’s lives because of the consistent barrage of messages of inconsistencies in the data. If the temperatures are rising this year, it is because people who can think and reason for themselves have been sighing repeatedly at the mere mention of this subject.

It’s noteworthy to look at the list of past recipients of this (formerly) distinguished designation. Names such as Mikhail Gorbachev (‘91), Elie Wiesel (‘86), Mother Theresa (‘79), Anwar Sadat & Menachim Begin (‘78), Martin Luther King (‘64), George C. Marshall (‘53), Albert Schweitzer (‘52), Woodrow Wilson (‘19), and Theodore Roosevelt (‘06). All of these names jump off the page and the majority of people my age and older will confirm that the underlying life’s work of these individuals was promoting peace, often in times of, and in the face of, great societal turbulence and personal strife.

The Nobel nominating committee has, I’m afraid, made a mockery of Alfred Nobel’s name and legacy with this year's award. How it came to be submitted and accepted by so many within the category of peace is a mystery to me. Further, the documents that support all nominations and confirmation remain frozen and shrouded in complete secrecy for 50 years after the award is given. We won’t know until 2057 what these documents contain.

Mr. Nobel’s intent in awarding this particular prize is conveyed in his surviving will documents. His will prescribed that “the Peace Prize (is) to be awarded by a committee of five persons chosen by the Norwegian Parliament (Storting) and should go to the person who accomplished ‘the most or the best work for fraternity among nations, for the abolition or reduction of standing armies and for the promotion of peace congresses.’” (I don’t see anything about film making or hot air here.)

It is a travesty that the legacy of this once great family has come to be grossly manipulated by political forces in today’s world. To Alfred, who I’m confident is rolling in his grave today, I’m very sorry that your vision has been cut short by those who would use your name in order to promote their personal agendas.