At the UN, How We Envy the World Cup

Amazing article by UN Secretary General about World Cup!!!

Kofi
A. Annan SATURDAY, JUNE 10, 2006-->Published: June 9, 2006

UNITED
NATIONS, New York You may wonder what a secretary general of the United
Nations is doing writing about football. But in fact, the World Cup makes us at
the United Nations green with envy. As the pinnacle of the only truly global
game, played in every country by every race and religion, it is one of the few
phenomena as universal as the United Nations.

You could even say it's more universal. FIFA has 207 members; we have
only 191.

But there are far better reasons to be envious. First, the World Cup is an
event in which everybody knows where their team stands, and what it did to get
there. They know who scored and how and in what minute of the game; they know
who missed the open goal; they know who saved the penalty.

I wish we had more of that sort of competition in the family of nations.
Countries openly vying for the best standing in the table of respect for human
rights, and trying to outdo one another in child survival rates or enrolment in
secondary education. States parading their performance for all the world to see.
Governments being held accountable for what actions led them to that result.

Second, the World Cup is an event that everybody on the planet loves
talking about, dissecting what their team did right, and what it could have done
differently - not to mention the other side's team.

People sitting in cafés anywhere from Buenos Aires to Beijing debate the
finer points of games endlessly, revealing an intimate knowledge not only of
their own national teams but of many of the others too, expressing themselves on
the subject with as much clarity as passion. Normally tongue-tied teenagers
suddenly become eloquent, confident, and dazzlingly analytical experts.

I wish we had more of that sort of conversation in the world at large.
Citizens consumed by the topic of how their country could do better on the Human
Development Index, or in reducing the amount of carbon emissions or the number
of new HIV infections.

Third, the World Cup is an event that takes place on a level playing field,
where every country has a chance to participate on equal terms. Only two
commodities matter in this game: talent and teamwork.

I wish we had more levelers like that in the global arena. Free and fair
exchanges without the interference of subsidies, barriers or tariffs. Every
country getting a real chance to field its strengths on the world stage.

Fourth, the World Cup is an event that illustrates the benefits of cross-
pollination between peoples and countries. More and more national teams now
welcome coaches from other countries, who bring new ways of thinking and
playing.

The same goes for the increasing number of players who, between World Cups,
represent clubs away from home. They inject new qualities into their new team,
grow from the experience, and are able to contribute even more to their home
side when they return.

In the process, they often become heroes in their adopted countries -
helping to open hearts and broaden minds.

I wish it were equally plain for all to see that human migration in general
can create triple gains - for migrants, for their countries of origin and for
the societies that receive them. That migrants not only build better lives for
themselves and their families, but are also agents of development - economic,
social and cultural - in the countries they go and work in, and in the homelands
they inspire through newly won ideas and know-how when they return.

For any country, playing in the World Cup is a matter of profound national
pride. For countries qualifying for the first time, such as my native Ghana, it
is a badge of honor. For those who are doing so after years of adversity, such
as Angola, it provides a sense of national renewal. And for those who are
currently riven by conflict, like Ivory Coast, but whose World Cup team is a
unique and powerful symbol of national unity, it inspires nothing less than the
hope of national rebirth.

Which brings me to what is perhaps most enviable of all for us at the
United Nations: The World Cup is an event in which we actually see goals being
reached.

I'm not talking only about the goals that a country scores; I also mean the
most important goal of all - being there, being part of the family of nations
and peoples, celebrating our common humanity.

I'll try to remember that when Ghana plays Italy in Hannover on June 12. Of
course, I can't promise I'll succeed.