The Great Aunt

I was discussing anthems with my mom just now, and the fact surfaced that every single national anthem refers to war. There's not one exception. Somewhat telling, is it not? Strife between nations dominates our history books; our records drip blood. It's sad, but not very odd. You can see the patterns emerging in the nursery. For thousands of year it's been the same - but now a solution has been found. Or so we have been informed. It is none other than the great United Nations. An international body that promotes peace and condemns conflict. And it really does quite a good job, considering the tasks it has given itself; the only problem is that the goals are perhaps a little flawed. The UN promotes peace with an almost insane fervour - but most reasonable people (the sort they're targeting, one assumes) have already figured out that peace is a pretty good idea. They are most vociferous and nondiscriminatory (indeed, they even refrain from discriminating between sense and idiocy) in their condemnation of conflict - but, as many parents have discovered, repeating Naughty boy! in a stern voice doesn't really cut it. The whole situation is not too far from a 50's farce in which the town busybody gets elected mayor. I keep waiting for someone to burst out laughing and then apologise for their dumb sense of humour. There is, however, no hint that anyone finds it funny at all. Maybe expecting a full realisation of their own ineptitude is a little much to ask, but I hope one day that they'll wake up and discover that Earth really doesn't need a overblown Great Aunt refereeing our fights.