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.
