The UN
Why I’ve Always Loved the United Nations
I’ve always loved the United Nations.
It gave me my global perspective before I had a passport, before I knew what ashes felt like, before I ever lived in a shelter or a jail cell. The UN taught me the world was bigger than Pittsburg, CA, and that I belonged in it.
It started with attending the 50th anniversary of the United Nations on the press bus with my Global Teen Club press credentials in San Francisco. I was just a kid from Heights Elementary, a girl who got Bear certificates and wrote lines when she got in trouble. But that day I was press. I saw Bill Clinton speak. I met the famous Herb Caen, a legendary writer in San Francisco. I was in the room where history was being made, and nobody asked me if I was from the right side of town.
Then there was going to the UN and having a photo shoot with Teen Magazine in 1992. Me —standing where diplomats stood. Cameras flashing. Being seen. Being told my voice mattered before I even knew what I wanted to say.
Then going inside, behind the scenes, to meeting Anthony Fouracre, the worldwide postal chief, with the help of my mother’s friend at the time. Those experiences shaped me in who I am today.
Being able to meet Mr. Anthony Fouracre and see a man dignified with class was an experience I will never forget. He carried himself with grace. He treated me, a teenager from the East Bay, with respect. He showed me that leadership didn’t have to be loud. That service could be quiet, global, and precise — like the mail. Like peace.
It was those experiences that I will cherish that gave me my global perspective.
They’re the reason I went to school in Copenhagen, Denmark on scholarship. Because once you’ve been on a UN press bus, once you’ve walked those halls, once you’ve been mentored by people who believe in a world without borders, you don’t stay small. You can’t.
But I carry the UN with me.
I carry Herb Caen’s wit. I carry Bill Clinton’s presence. I carry Anthony Fouracre’s dignity. I carry my mother’s vision — because she built something special with me and Global Teen Club International, and she made sure I saw the world before the world tried to break me.
The UN taught me that Black, biracial, poor, unhoused, diagnosed — none of that disqualifies you from the table.
I sat at that table in 1992. I’m still at it in 2026.
From Pittsburg to San Francisco to New York to Copenhagen to Salem, Oregon — ashes to cocoon to butterfly.
And I still believe in the United Nations. Because it believed in me first.
Cathryn M. Murray
Salem, Oregon | August 1, 2026
