Since the award for "Peace" has been given to Yasser Arafat (1994), a known terrorist, it has lost its luster, which is unfortunate. Al Gore (2007) is also a case against the award remaining valid since it was for climate change and I've yet to figure out how climate change (if it is happening) relates to peace. It is a "Peace" prize, or was supposed to be. I'm not arguing that some people aren't or haven't been deserving of it. I just don't see that this particular winner lends any credibility to the award as a whole and therefore erodes at the awards significance. As described in Nobel's will, one part was dedicated to "the person who shall have done the most or the best work for fraternity between nations, for the abolition or reduction of standing armies and for the holding and promotion of peace congresses." Based on these words from Nobel's will, the prize did have significance and, in my opinion, worthwhile application. It is unfortunate the committee which awards the prize has apparently confused the stated goals with their named winner. This is my point, the prize has moved away from its original goals and has therefore affected its own relevance and significance. It would be as though the Baseball Hall of Fame inducted members for a) working on a documenting an inconclusive process to document the change of a sport (Al Gore), or b) someone who openly worked to destroy the sport (Arafat), or c) a player who was drafted as a first pick, has the hope of a promising career, but has not actually done anything as a baseball player (Obama). And since I have written this post, I have obviously spent more time than my original post suggested a person should. Go figure! BTW, here are the last ten winners: 2008 - Martti Ahtisaari 2007 - Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, Al Gore 2006 - Muhammad Yunus, Grameen Bank 2005 - International Atomic Energy Agency, Mohamed ElBaradei 2004 - Wangari Maathai 2003 - Shirin Ebadi 2002 - Jimmy Carter 2001 - United Nations, Kofi Annan 2000 - Kim Dae-jung 1999 - Médecins Sans Frontières

Feast

Quick...if you can name the last 10 (or even 5 or 2) Nobel Peace Prize winners, then this award has significance. If you can't, then it has no significance, and it doesn't matter who won. It doesn't matter. It is a silly award and getting worked up about it only causes an increase in stress levels and frankly that's unhealthy, so don't let someone you clearly don't like affect your day so negatively.