The Self-Awareness of a Global Identity
Conventional wisdom may argue that identifying as a global citizen takes a tight-knit community away and makes people no longer feel like they belong to a group. Nevertheless, I would contend that being a global citizen can actually make you more in touch with your own identity and provide a more meaningful community as a result. To talk about global citizenship, we must first understand what it is. Many people believe that in order to identify themselves as a true global citizen, they have to understand everything about all of the countries in the world, from their minute nuances to their wide-reaching state of affairs. But how can someone expect himself to be omniscient? Knowing everything about the world is an objectively impossible standard for a human being to achieve. I believe that being a global citizen is not about being all-knowing. Instead, I simply see it as the pursuit of knowledge about the world from different vantage points. In other words, you just have to be genuinely open-minded, and you have to be willing to take in new information and challenge your existing beliefs in order to solidify your own thoughts.
To be sure, assuming a global identity does not automatically make someone change the way they act; they must achieve genuine empathy. In order to do this, one must find a community that makes them feel understood. To put it another way, someone must feel like others can empathize with them in order to empathize with other people. After all, being human comes with the innately shared experiences that everyone in the world has: love for our families, sympathy for the struggling, and passion for our favorite pastimes, to name a few. In the article “The Art of Creating Shared Experiences,” author Bryan Kramer emphasizes that “shared experiences have a deep impact on human socialization because they enhance each person’s individual experience” (Kramer). This further emphasizes the inherent connectedness of the human experience and the importance of empathizing with other people. For instance, let’s say you are going through an experience, and you can’t quite find a way to put it into words. Perhaps in your pursuit of knowledge, you will come across a culture, a religion, or a teaching that lays it out for you perfectly. As a result, you become aware that someone across the world may be going through the same nuanced experience as you are. This makes you more aware of who you are and therefore opens your eyes to where your place in the world may be.
Along the same lines, I have had personal experiences in my own life that display this. For example, I grew up in a Christian family and was told exactly what to believe for most of my life. But as I am growing older, I am finding it more important to ask my own questions in order to map out my own views on religion, or the lack thereof. I took it upon myself to research different religions so that I could formulate a well-educated opinion on my thoughts on Christianity. This helped me to gain a more in-depth insight into myself and become more self-aware. I might even argue that this kind of community may just be more beneficial than a national community because the global community will have people that are each self-aware of their own hidden and complex idiosyncrasies. In contrast, the national community may have traits that are already predetermined. As a result of all of this comes true empathy and the drive to take action on the issues of the world.
Admittedly, it can be daunting to take on the task of learning all this new information about the world. However, as our world’s population becomes increasingly woven together through the instantaneous connection of the internet, it has become rather effortless for people to gain new knowledge on virtually anything. At the tap of a button, we can research different languages, holidays, traditions, cuisines, and so much more. Although this journey for knowledge may take time, the end result is that we can find our proper places in the world. We will also be able to see the world from different perspectives, which is crucial because we have a moral responsibility to take care of the world as well as the people that we share it with. The University of Kansas highlights that if we know people’s culture’s we will gain insight into “their views, their values, their humor, their hopes, their loyalties, and their worries and fears” (Axner).
Naturally, there will always be people that disagree and believe that we should only be concerned about the people who are like us and that we should not be worrying about learning about different ways of life. This begs the question: “Why is it so important to find your identity by contrasting your experiences with other people?” The people arguing for the local or national identity may say that they do not need to learn about other cultures because they already know who they are within their own cultures. Without contrast, everything you know meshes together because they are all from the same pool of ideas. Consider this situation: there are two rooms; the first room is a completely bright room that is filled with light, and the second room is dark to the point where you cannot see your hand if you put it in front of your face. If someone lit a candle in both rooms, it would be much more challenging to find the source of light in the bright room than in the room with no light.
In other words, it is impossible to truly understand yourself without understanding the people that disagree with you, and this applies to the ideas of religion, historical teachings, politics, and anything else that requires you to form your own opinions. This is what the global identity offers and why everyone should strive towards it. It provides people with the resources to educate themselves about the perspectives of people from around the world. On this journey to understanding others, people will also learn more about themselves and have opinions that consider the views of people that disagree with them, creating a meaningful community of self-aware individuals.
Works Cited
Axner, Marya. “Understanding Culture and Diversity in Building Communities.” Community Tool Box, Center for Community Health and Development at the University of Kansa, 2019, ctb.ku.edu/en/table-of-contents/culture/cultural-competence/culture-and-diversity/ main.
Kramer, Bryan. “The Art of Creating Shared Experiences.” Bryan Kramer, 22 Feb. 2015, bryankramer.com/art-creating-shared-experiences/#:~:text=Although%20it’s%20a%20simple%20concept,enhance%20each%20person’s%20individual%20experience.&text=This%20power%20comes%20from%20the,world%2C%20and%20vice%2Dversa.
