New York City is in many ways, perhaps, the true representative of the United States, with its nucleus of multiracial and multilingual peoples. With the United Nations in New York City, there is an instant tie-in for people from around the world. Here, they can find quick access to ideas, education and even food from just about anywhere.

The education of women, especially in this city, is in many ways unique because it is here that many "firsts" happened. Women emerging from the shadows of historical custom and even religious mores assumed the role of wage-earners while continuing to manage the organization of family life in the home. Within the United Nations, more and more countries are sending women to participate in world forums and lead their nation's delegations in the international community. New York City is certainly the ideal climate in which this kind of leadership can best grow and mature.

The National Council of Women of the United States is typically one of the institutions here, led by dedicated volunteers, that offer women coming to New York multifaceted views of this wonderful city. Some come through the diplomatic services, others to live and work. We show them the good and the not so good things that make up the rich tapestry of this city. In particular, the International Hospitality Committee of the National Council of Women, through its programmes, introduces the wives of the members of the United Nations and its Secretariat to social services, which in most cases are totally unique to this country and in many cases to this city. For example, if a woman has been in prison and has paid her debt to society, she hopefully is ready to restart her life in a positive way. In order to re-establish a home for her children, she must have a furnished home and essentially a means of support in the form of a job. There are organizations in the city which assist in helping to find an employer who is willing to employ, train and develop the skills of the individual woman; then she can establish a home and reclaim her children. This does not happen overnight. A sustained effort on the part of the person who is restarting her life is integral to its success. It can and does happen.

It is social services programmes like these to which we take our guest members in the hope that when they return to their own countries these programmes will stimulate their thinking to try to adapt something similar in their homelands. All work and no play cannot succeed for long. We also offer cultural and varied educational programmes as well as concerts in our weekly meetings, which are attended with great enthusiasm and are totally apolitical. When the guest members return home, they carry on the ideas they have seen at work here, adapting them as necessary to conform within diverse local parameters.

It can be said that New York City is composed of many villages and as such operates more easily than a huge metropolis or a town, which is often limited by its boundaries and preordained opinions. These "villages" interact with greater ease and afford broader horizons. Having said that, New Yorkers also respect the privacy of both visitors and locals, but they are more open to offer cordiality and assistance and do so willingly.

With its history of receiving, welcoming and embracing the peoples of the entire world, the City is unique in helping new arrivals adapt to America. It encourages them to retain part of their own heritage in their new abode. This willingness to try to understand and foster a hybrid culture is a very New York accomplishment. It is a microcosm historically and, with this many faceted thinking, should more easily help the United Nations to realize the valuable goals set forth at its conception for a united world-a world in which the ideals of the many unite to make the whole a strong and peaceful existence for all.

The interaction of New York City and the United Nations should and must be a nucleus wherein individual customs and beliefs are maintained and contribute to a standard of ultimate perfection. If New York City, which has managed to accommodate as many races, religions and national heritages within its borders as there are nations in our world, can make this all exist and function while maintaining respect and dignity, then the United Nations and New York City will enter the twenty-first century on a high plain. Family members who love one another may squabble, but in the final analysis, they are a family and they unite. It is then that they are strongest!