A Global Mindset Can Fix the World — Here’s How.

Being a global citizen is something that can only be learned from experience and a general understanding of the world around us. Different parts of the world feed off each other, whether it is through imports and exports, their individual economies, or even for sports. Without the connectivity of different countries, it would be exceedingly difficult for economies and cultures to survive. When you identify as a global citizen you are acknowledging this and celebrating the fact that nations must work together in order to function properly. Many argue that national and local citizenship can influence direct communities to a greater extent because it is much easier to initiate change in a smaller environment. While this may be true, I believe that when you identify as a global citizen you have the possibility to not only change your immediate community, but you can initiate change in communities that might be on the other side of the world. If you can communicate globally, not through language, but through understanding a nation’s or a culture’s history, you can use that information to solve world problems.

I have always identified as a global citizen rather than a local or national citizen. Not only does this come from being born in Italy and living there before moving to the United States, but it also comes from what I have been surrounded by my whole life. My parents identify as global citizens and that has also had an impact on the way I think. I have always thought that because I come from a different part of the world that made me more global, but it is not only that. With the people I have been surrounded by at school and where I live, I have gotten to see examples of the kind of people that I don’t want to be around and never want to be similar to. I have also been able to experience so many different cultures because I am fortunate enough to have traveled to many different places.

These situations, traveling, where I live, etc., may have been brought on by my parents, but it is me who absorbs the information and wants to learn more about the world. It is not bad to identify as a national or local citizen whatsoever, but I think that if you can identify as a global citizen you may be able to develop a better understanding of the world. You do not have to travel the world to develop a global mindset, but I do think you have to be exposed to different cultures. One of my classmates mentioned that the internet has become so accessible when it comes to exploring new cultures that there is no need to take a flight to India to learn its culture, you just need the drive and passion to learn about the world around you.

So how exactly can identifying as a global citizen have an impact on the world, and how do we get there? Well, first off, we must recognize our own cultural values and biases. This not only allows you to get to know yourself better, but you see how you compare to other cultures and various ways of life. If you can identify certain aspects of yourself, such as your style of communication and hierarchy, you are one step closer to developing a strong sense of self-awareness and this allows you to stimulate a non-judgmental perspective on differences. Once you have done some self-reflection, you are able to immerse yourself in learning about the history of nations and their cultures; this is crucial to developing a global mindset.

If we take the time to learn about one another’s culture and educate ourselves about the culture’s history, we have a better chance at helping each other. When you recognize the history of a certain place or a certain people, you recognize the damage that has been done in the past and how not to repeat those mistakes. Education, without a doubt, is the main way anyone comes to understand more about the world.

While others may say that global citizenship is detached from one’s own community and nation, being a global citizen allows for more conscious and principled thinking because it brings about recognition of world-wide issues, and exposes problems that can harm one’s nation. Identifying as a global citizen can dramatically change the way we form solutions for global conflicts.

Even though I identify as a global citizen, I respect the fact that everyone must develop their own thinking process. My Zoom breakout room partners on Monday made a good point about how national citizenship can provide more opportunities for a nation’s people. Both of my classmates identified as national citizens. They mentioned that when things happen in the places we live, hurricanes, fires, earthquakes, shootings (as awful as it sounds), etc. that the relief comes from local or national authorities or organizations. They both agreed that they identified as national citizens because when things like that happen, they feel like they can make a difference, or organizations can make a difference in their life if they are more reachable. It is true that when there are fires in California or there are Covid patients that need to be treated, the firefighters and doctors come from your immediate community. I agree that national authorities can fix problems, but these problems are also happening all over the world. If America could focus just a fraction of its time to efforts around the globe, such as the relief that was initiated in Beirut after the explosion, or the fight to put a stop to sex and labor trafficking in India, we could start to put an end to the immense amount of suffering that certain people have to endure.

National and local citizenship can do so much good, but then again, those citizens must still be educated on what it means to identify as one. There are certain types of people who take local or national citizenship to extremes, and those people can pose a serious threat to a country’s validity.

Take our president for example. There is no way anyone can tell me or convince me that Donald Trump is a global citizen. His “America first” mentality, and his complete disregard of the perspectives of other world leaders is a perfect example of the kind of nationalism that can be dangerous. Trump has proven that he is not a global citizen. His actions and words, or even lack of action, have tainted our democracy. The president has refused to wear a mask in public since the beginning of the Covid-19 pandemic, wearing it only once after months of infections and a “stay-at-home order”, and has decided not to join the international effort of the Covid-19 Vaccines Global Access Facility (COVAX), a plan developed by the World Health Organization to develop a vaccine. Furthermore, in the past few months, the president has refused to stand against police brutality towards black people and never gave his support to the Black Lives Matter movement. America must stray from this sense of national identity that does more harm than good because it only creates more conflict in the world, and we all know we do not need any more of that.

I believe that when countries stop focusing so much on themselves, we can help countries, with our technology and our resources, that are less fortunate, to develop further. If the US, a first-world country, probably one of the most developed nations in the world, started focusing on helping other nations that are considered second and third-world countries, rather than thinking only about America, we could then start helping each other when disaster strikes; just as we would on a national level, but on a global scale. We live in a place where freedom of speech, religion, the press, the right to assemble, and the right to petition the government, are all guaranteed. How can we continue to sit silently and be content with our rights if we neglect that certain communities, cultures, or even nations, do not have that possibility? I cannot force anyone to change their perspective, but I can continue to make an effort to inform myself of the wide-scale issues that affect even the most satisfied nations.

I will say it once more — I am a global citizen. I see the impact that a global perspective can have in connecting people from all around the world. When we educate ourselves on global issues, we can deepen our empathy for others, and relate to people in ways we may never have thought possible. With knowledge and understanding of people, where they come from, and why they are the way they are, we have a better chance at working together to find solutions to target our global issues.