By Oscar Arias, former President of Costa Rica and Nobel Peace Price Laureate in 1987.

The cynics in our world often tell us that there is nothing we can do to combat poverty and destruction or to achieve lasting peace and development. They tell us that inequality and poverty are inevitable, that cancer will never be cured, that somehow evil will always get the better of good, so why fight it? Part of the tragedy is that these cynics paint themselves as realists, and they argue that anyone who is willing to fight for the underdogs, for peace, to commit himself to ending human suffering, is really just a dreamer.

The Realists were Wrong

I was labeled a naive utopian back in the 1980s for believing that the self-declared Marxist-Leninist government in Nicaragua would hold free elections, as they committed themselves to doing when they signed my peace plan. Those who called themselves realists claimed that military victory was the only way to end the conflict in Central America. That time, the realists were wrong. There is a first time for everything.

When we look to the future, we can only look with optimism. François Guizot once said that the world belongs to the optimists, pessimists are only spectators. However, being an optimist does not mean closing your eyes to the world’s problems. As we dine here in this elegant setting, we must remind ourselves that 1.3 billion people live on less than one dollar per day. We should pause from time to time in our routine of reading the morning newspaper to remember that more than 850 million adults in the developing world are illiterate.

In the midst of our peaceful pool-side relaxation, let us not forget that insurgent and paramilitary groups continue to take up arms and batter their countries in turf wars that they attempt to disguise as ideological battles. Truly, my friends, when we take the time to ponder the ongoing deprivation of the poor and the acts of brutality that are committed on a daily basis, it is indeed very easy to become discouraged about the prospects for lasting peace and development in our world.

Like Don Quixote

Unfortunately, human instinct seems to tell us to focus on the negative. Perhaps this is a result of our built-in instinct for survival; we must be aware of the dangers around us in order to defend ourselves from them. But for every source of danger that captures our attention, we miss a vision of beauty, an act of kindness, a moment of peaceful coexistence. Such pieces of life fade into the background, and the dark spots loom up, causing fear and pessimism. But those who have been able to change the world for the better are more likely to have been like the Man of La Mancha who charged every windmill he could find, and never lost sight of the beauty in the ordinary things of life.

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The Shadows of September 11

In the wake of the events of September 11, the issue of national security has once again overshadowed the need to protect human security in the developing world. Work such as yours, which seeks to alleviate poverty and promote sustainable and ecologically responsible growth in the developing world, has begun to be overlooked in the rush to build better defenses - and, make no mistake, better offenses - against the evil of terrorism. Today, when President Bush and members of his administration speak of aid to developing countries, they are most often talking about military training, tanks and fighter jets, and not hospital supplies, school books or technical cooperation for the development of life-sustaining agriculture.

Bush’s Stingy Aid

It is true that President Bush recently announced an increase in U.S. aid for development, so that he would not be arriving in Monterrey empty-handed for the United Nations Conference on Financing for Development. This increase is certainly welcome and is a step in the right direction; however, the only industrialized countries that gave less aid per capita than the U.S. were Portugal and Greece, two of the poorest countries in the European Union.

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