There, just one month ago, the member states gave approval to a very ambitious and far-reaching reform blueprint offered by the Secretary General that did much to instill a new culture of reform throughout the United Nations system. I would encourage all the members, and the Secretary General, to examine the United Nations' experience closely and consider how much of it might be productively imported and applied here to further enhance the reform initiatives the OAS has undertaken. To us, the option for the Organization to avoid taking tough actions is only deceptively easy, and not without its own long-term costs and implications. At bottom, the actual choice before us reduces to something else. A momentous challenge appears spread before us, a historic opportunity to re-chart the course of this Organization into the next century, for the betterment of our hemisphere and our peoples.
History is a one-time thing.
It will not wait for us. The hemispheric evolution will happen with us or in spite of us, in which event we will be all the poorer for having missed out on the chance to lead and put our own stamp on the major events of the day. Fifty years ago the visionaries who wrote the Charter of this Organization convened to consider what were then the similarly hard choices and far-reaching opportunities of the time. We are here today, honored with the privilege to fulfill their visions and their legacy, because they chose wisely and boldly. I, for one, believe that we can do no better for ourselves, for the people and countries we represent, for the OAS, and for the future of our hemisphere.