TheWorldJournal.com

Being a Citizen of the World
By Candice Pascoal, TheWorldJournal.com

It's already well known that the political and economical sectors seek for a market that is no longer limited by geographical boundaries. There's a vivid need in the world today, the globalization. The demand is getting global, the offer is getting global. We are developing an economy that is creating new regions that surpass physical and cultural limits imposed and accepted decades ago by the nations.

The new fact about it is that this global need is no longer only economical, but also social. Some important historical cultural aspects are breaking up, turning urgent to perceive: people are also getting global. Therefore, don't hesitate to say: yes, I am a citizen of the world.

A man once dreamed about a different world, a philosopher once wrote for who does the bell tolls, and now we all are participating of this revolution: the revolution of the status, the revolution of the boundaries, the revolution of the language, behavior, economy. The history truly gives very little opportunity for people to work in a revolutionary event, and this replacement of the Nations is a challenge as big as it was the creation of the nationality in the past, with the geographical definition of the countries, languages, coin, sovereignty, people.

The more the new economy seeks for a bigger demand, the more a culture is inserted in another existed culture. It's a mix of people, replacing the tradition in order to place the interchange. In the past, if a war occurred in the other side of the continent, or Indians were killed in some part of your country, some would surely know about it, some would hear about it, few would see it. Today, it is on news; it's on the newspaper, all over the Internet. And everyone will certainly know, hear or see it.

This definitely brings a change to our society. Today everyone is inside the international arena. People can get access to information about others economy, culture, aim and fortune in live, at the same time they are being informed to their own people. The information, the first step for a critical knowledge has been already absolutely inserted to everyone's house.

Now, the conscience is the next step. The schools, the organizations, the media have the responsibility to educate these important citizens of the world about the reality that is showed: there are no social boundaries anymore. We shall travel to all cultures physically or mentally to understand others feeling about life. People might realize that there's a truly difference between two different people, raised in different social, geographical and economical environmental, but this difference shall never be a barrier, in the very opposite, it is an incredible invitation - an invitation to a new world, to a different understanding of the human being and life. It is a call to realize that others reaction to the life, is not better or worst to our, is just unique, and related to their condition.

This way, before asking why some people eat so many weird things, and dress in such formal or informal way, why not ask the reason of that behavior? Why not ask the reason why that a boy or a girl in that other part of the world is not similar to you and your friends from your childhood, so trustful, so familiar, so "you"?

Somehow, when you try to understand another way of life, you realize that it has similarities with yours, and you start to identify yourself with it. And this happen because a man could never be an isolated island. He has always to be a piece of someone. A history that toke another path, and created an own life.

And the fact appears: all people smile in the same language. And also cry in the same language. There is no mystery or difference. We are all citizens of the same world. And without any doubt, as long as there is your own culture, the more you will need to learn other's one.

That's the beauty of living: the fact that there is no barriers, and that the world is finally walking to where it should have never be departed from: a single block. A piece of an imaginary paradise. And then, when someone ask you for who does the bells toll, be known that they toll for you, for him, for us.

© March 1, 2001