The Committee referred in their remarks to her statement,
“International unity is not in itself a solution.
Unless this . . . has a moral quality, accepts the discipline
Of moral standards and possesses the quality of humanity,
It will not be the unity we are interested in.”
They said, “She has taught us more: that exhaustion is unknown,
And defeat only gives fresh courage” to those “fired by the sacred flame.”
Her acceptance was delivered in ’48. She said,
“This is a period of change,” the change that is read
In invention, technology, science and medical discovery,
The shift from human to atomic and machinery,
Dying colonialism and imperialism, “a plastic period,”
“As though anything could happen” . . . noting nationalism.
She welcomed liberty, democracy, reason and “growing humaneness.”
June Edvenson 