UN General Assembly
1984

99. The idea of the United Nations is as important now as at any time in our history. It forces the comfortable out of complacency. It lifts the desperate beyond despair. It allows today's frustrations to be seen in the light of four decades of lives improved, conflicts reduced, perspectives enlarged. 100. Support for the United Nations must be based on a clear-sighted view of current realities. When we list the things that have gone wrong with the United Nations, we should not forget the things that have gone right, and when we rejoice in the things that have gone right, we often underestimate the political and economic problems that lie ahead. We must avoid the trap of blaming the United Nations for our own sins and omissions. If we collectively are unable to revitalize the United Nations system, we shall have to resign ourselves to watching it wither away. That must not happen.