The Promise of Peace
It's About the Journey
2009-10-12
By Eric Easter

The stipulation in Alfred Nobel’s will about determining who should be awarded the Nobel Peace each year is fairly clear and straightforward. In Nobel’s words, the award should go to “…the person who shall have done the most or the best work for fraternity among nations, for the abolition or reduction of standing armies and for the holding and promotion of peace congresses.”

It’s a pretty high threshold to reach, but by definition the criteria is not complicated. The Nobel is not intended as a reward for achievement, like an Oscar, rather it is recognition of one’s participation in an ongoing and never-ending story. In that context, Barack Obama is no less deserving than any previous winner, or anyone else who may have been on the list.

For most of its history the Nobel has been about promise and not necessarily about achievement. Al Gore, as a prime example, won it for what was essentially an extraordinary Power Point presentation. He  helped spark a discussion and open minds, but we would all agree that we are far from a green world at this moment. The same goes for Jimmy Carter, Shimon Peres and Yasser Arafat. Moving toward peace is an act of bravery, but ultimately peace was and is a fleeting notion in the Middle East, and everywhere else in the world for that matter.

But that’s the point, really, isn’t it? You can stand in front of a tank in Tianenman Square, or face bullets in the fight for free elections l or you can simply inspire people to do those things. You may not succeed in your quest, but life is about the journey, not the destination, and Barack Obama’s story is all about a journey.

What the Nobel Committee seems to understand is that dramatic, transformative and sustainable change is a process, not a singular moment. Older countries who measure their history in millennia – like Norway – understand this. Americans, or at least American pundits, do not. The goal of “fraternity among nations” is a concept not unlike digging a tunnel with a spoon, removing the dirt bit by tiny bit. Sometime the tunnel caves in on you and you have to start again, but the effort is still worthy.  Certainly compared to Marie Curie and Martin Luther King, Barack Obama’s inspiring message of hope and openness may only be a single spoonful, but if it gets us one step closer to the light at the end of that tunnel then recognition is legitimate.

If there is a drawback to this award, then it’s the dilemma of what an ex-President Obama does for an encore. He’s already written a best-selling memoir, he’s become the first Black president, won two Grammys for spoken word, now a Nobel – all by the first year of his first term. As an American he can’t get knighthood. Sainthood is for Catholics. How are his acting chops?