In my glamorous surroundings, you may not notice me. Yet I always try to support you. Like a metal Giving Tree.

Citizens and monarchs share their great burdens for me to bear. For you, I am the path ahead, a kind helper on which to tread. 

But what am I?

I am an escalator in the United Nations’ headquarters.

Now, the job is not always easy. 

I see plenty of foot traffic day by day, from tourists and tour guides to diplomats and world leaders. Every year, around a million people visit our grand building, seeing for themselves the halls where international diplomacy is conducted.

I may have my work cut out for me, but still, I persevere. After all, someone has to help those who dedicate their lives to helping the world reach new heights!

I have carried presidents and heads of state, their shoulders heavy with the responsibilities placed upon them. These imperfect individuals with political power rely on me to carry them so they can present their ideals to the world.

Famous names across the political spectrum have paid me a visit, allowing me to transport them wherever they needed to go. You would think that carrying these individuals and their lofty ambitions would be too much for me to bear.

But I lived to lift another day.

However, I don’t just carry democratically elected leaders. Dictators also have a spot on the world stage, whether we like it or not.

So, I carry these ruthless leaders, who have unparalleled authority and no qualms about using force to get what they want, to where they need to go. Some of them may use their international platform to advocate for their nation’s interests, others may use it to stall international action against them.

But it’s not my job to judge. Lifting up these fear-inducing individuals is certainly not the most glamorous part of the job, but it is still important to make sure every nation can be represented in international diplomacy.

So I lived to lift another day.

But then, one day, a man came to the United Nations unlike all of the others that came before him.

While this man was a democratically elected leader, he became infamous for praising notorious dictators. He even praised Russian President Vladimir Putin for invading Ukraine.

This man took a functional and thriving foreign service and undercut it by implementing rules that tested diplomats on their “fidelity.” This man let more than half of the ambassador positions for his country stay open for months, while seemingly not caring about the diplomats he left out of policy discussions.

The same man also completely shut down an agency meant to grant help to suffering people around the world, over allegations of wasteful spending. Experts estimate this closure could cause 14 million additional deaths by 2030, but according to this man, this money was not being spent properly.

Furthermore, this man dubiously claims credit for ending several wars, a few of which he had nothing to do with at all. This grand display of vanity was all part of a campaign to receive a Nobel Peace Prize, which he had his eye set on because his predecessor and political rival received the prize in 2009.

This man even went so far as to join his deputy in berating a foreign leader in his office in front of the press, turning what was supposed to be a diplomatic meeting into an argument before unceremoniously kicking out the leader and his entire delegation.

Even my workplace was not safe from this man’s wrath, as he rescinded the visas of leaders and diplomats who wanted to do business inside the U.N.

Even though practically every one of this man’s policy decisions undermined some aspect of traditional diplomacy or the world order, I still stood, unafraid. After all, what could a single man do to me when I have survived countless influential people before him?

And so, as he approached, I prepared myself. I reminded myself of all the great and terrible people whom I carried before, and readied myself for the final boss of diplomatic transportation.

Surely I would live to lift another day, right?

The moment arrived. 

He set foot on my first step.

I broke. 

I could not lift this man.

I was aghast. Aside from occasional technical difficulties, I had never before backed down from my noble task.

Why was I unable to bring this man where he wanted to go?

Was it because someone had sabotaged me like the man claimed? Was it some random technical failure?

Or was it because he sought to undermine the diplomatic norms and principles the building I live and work in was built on?

I don’t know. I’m just an escalator.

I guess some people should really just take the stairs.