The United Nations In Executive Session

The United Nations met in executive session. Their purpose was to discuss the world's problems, and, they hoped, to come up with solutions.

The size, dimensions, and configuration of the table was accomplished quickly, thanks to previous sessions. After the representatives of the nations had enjoyed the various snacks of their cultures, the Director of World Affairs gaveled the meeting to order.

Dr. A_____, the representative of his people and now the Director of World Affairs, looked gravely on his fellow delegates. He was stately and very handsome in the garb of his nation, a kind of multicolored tunic with matching pants that reached to his sandals, and his head covered in a matching cap (no bill). He cleared his throat and announced the purpose of their meeting, to discuss the world's problems, and, hopefully, to come up with some solutions.

All eyes were on him. Around the table sat the representatives of the nations chosen to take part in this executive session. These were the best the world could offer, a representative from somewhere in Africa, somewhere in Asia, a North American and South American delegate, and so forth. They were full of hope. After all, if the seven of them could find a way to live in mutual happiness and harmony, it stood to reason the rest of us could, too.

But there are grave problems throughout the nations. Man has risen up against man. The various religions have declared each their supremacy. The environment is a mess. The various economies have gotten out of control. And of course then we have the haves and the have nots. Hope started to fade as Dr. A_____ ran down the list of sticky wickets. "Earth hangs in the balance," he said, scratching his chin and the wisp of a beard he neatly kept.

The executives were optimistic, of one heart and one mind that something could be done. We live on one planet and that's all we have at the present time. When you look at it from space, it's obviously a single blue ball, and there's really no where else to go.

The delegate from North America, bearing all this in mind about the "single blue ball," told a story from her personal experience. She confessed that she had had a problem with hoarding, not the full blown crazy hoarding like you see on TV, but the reluctance to let go of possessions. Pretty soon, she said, one thing would fall to the floor. Then someone would accidentally kick it, and another thing would fall. Before long, her utility room was a shambles. "This is the world," she concluded, to the nods of those gathered.

"Then we have decided that the world's problems very real, even grave, but they are not intractable," Dr. A_____ said, speaking for the group. "But how to clean up the mess, of course that is, how you say?, the $64,000 question."

The solution, no matter how much they sought it, did not come ready to hand. In the end, Dr. A_____ appointed three committees, two for the Religions of Man committee, two for the Environmental Nightmares committee, and two for the Economic Disasters committee. As for himself, Dr. A_____ would serve as a one-man committee looking into the issues of the haves and the have nots.

The task of the committees would be to come up with solutions and recommendations, with the hope that they could present them in Executive Session again in a week.