What Role Will You Take As A Citizen of the World?

As a citizen of the planet, you are held responsible for yourself, your home nation, and to everyone around you.  Not everyone sees themselves as such.   Many people pledge allegiance to their nation only and refuse to acknowledge or educate themselves.  Typically these people fail to ever venture outside of their own backyards.  If they do, they are usually hit hard with a wave of culture shock or alienation upon their arrival to anywhere new.   If you can identify the roles that you must fulfill as a citizen of the Earth, you will not have the same problems or issues as someone who only has a nationalistic viewpoint of life.

Diplomat of Cultures and Ethnicities

We, the people, owe it to ourselves to be conscious diplomats of cultures and ethnicities.  Holding yourself in a respectful and tactful manner should be innate.  Any disrespectful or uncouth behavior will be remembered as a reflection on your nation, not yourself.  Sometimes, stereotypes are perpetuated by the acts of one person who is known as “the American” or “the Italian” or whichever nation that they are representative of.  

Whether you want to or not, you have lost your individual identity and are known henceforth as “America” or “Italy” in the eyes of anyone who is not your brethren.  Choose your words wisely and pick your battles, as what you say or do in haste can influence the decision of others about one of your countrymen in the future.

Not only are we national agents, we are also ethnic ones.  You may find yourself in situations where you are the ethnic minority.  Don’t be alarmed by the curious stares and inquisitive nature of those around you.  Yes, they may ask to touch your skin or hair.  Yes, they might ask intrusive questions that you may deem offensive and downright rude.  You must remember however, that not everyone has had the life experiences or exposure that you have had.  For many, the only knowledge of people outside of their neighborhoods, cities, and country may be through a television set or a webpage. 

Guardian of the Environment

Global resources are depleting.  Because of this, many countries are currently in an economic crisis and seeking help from stable allies.  When thinking about the environment, you have to remember that you can waste and destroy your own backyard then move to your neighbor’s territory.  After so many moves you will have no more clean land or resources.  Because of this, looking at environmental issues as a collective one will extend the life of these valuables.

Humanitarian

Humanitarian issues such as human trafficking, and sex slavery are not thought of as problems by some citizens of some first world countries.  Or, they are overlooked ones.  Countries you may not be able to pronounce or locate on a map are usually what is thought of when thinking about these topics.  There is a secret and prevalent issue of human trafficking and sex slavery in the United States and Europe.   Funding and education for prevention in lands that are “far away” is available.  Having the resources for prevention and detection in places like the United States and Europe are not as customary as raising awareness of these things happening in other areas of the world.  Accepting the fact that these situations bleed into each other and become a global issue may help to detect and stop these types of criminals at borders that are not typically suspected.

Transformer

Poverty is viewed differently depending on where you live in the world.  In some parts of the world, high poverty rates have become the social norm.  The average day consists of hunting and scavenging and attempting to make do with what they can find in order for sustainability. 

Other parts of the world address poverty by setting up national welfare systems that are not stigmatized or frowned upon.  For example, in many countries of Europe, new mothers are given money for each child until that child becomes an adult and they also receive free parenting classes, and supplies for the child’s first year of life.

Then, there are the countries that feel shameful for having visible homeless people and try to blanket the problem.  Having reintegration programs for these people that are substandard or come with cyclic contingencies for admittance does nothing but waste funding and increase the ratio of people who need help.

One way to remedy the issue of poverty is to take a look at systems from various parts of the world and merge aspects of each of these to build one universal system that can be adapted, based on the needs of each country, to increase its feasibility and efficiency.

As a citizen of the planet, we must look at all of these pieces through the eyes of an outsider.  Until we do so, we will continue to face the problem of not being able to relate to one another, thus causing conflicts to or lack of empathy for other nations.  These roles are not easy to play.  Then again, who said that life would be.