80 years ago today, on 10 January 1946, the United Nations General Assembly met for the first time in London.

The United Nations was born in a world on fire and desperate for reprieve. 750 million – nearly a third of humanity back then– still under colonial rule. Two World Wars in a generation. 70 million dead. The horrors of the Holocaust revealed to our collective shame. This was a generation that knew almost nothing but suffering and despair. But the signing of the Charter in San Francisco and the first meeting of the 51 states in the Methodist Central Hall in London guided our path from the ashes of war with a compass pointing toward peace, humanity, and justice. We have not always succeeded. But the story of this institution is not a story of easy victories. It is the story of pulling ourselves and each other back up and trying harder. Just as our predecessors did eight decades ago, our job is to find the resolve not to give up. The resolve to be Better Together.