I am a Globalist

A thought came to me sometime today.  I am a globalist. Not in the sense of favoring huge, multinational corporate powerhouses, although I have no inherent problem with them as such.  But I am a globalist in terms of people. As a blogger, I speak with people in three, occasionally four continents every week and I just love it.  I love seeing how much we have in common on so many levels.

There's a combination of factors that have been going on this week, all kind of blending together into this thought.  I've been reading Thomas L. Friedman's marvelous The World is Flat. An elderly Jewish person I care about is growing uncomfortable with the influx of Afghani Muslims and Indian Hindus into her neighborhood. A guy in front of me in the bakery line told me that all of America's problems could be solved if we built walls around our borders to keep all outsiders, well, out.  A client was telling me about the amazing transformations going in Bangalore.  My friend Ivan let me know that the Singapore Library system would be buying 22 copies of my book.  My email repeatedly failed to reach a friend in China who had voiced objections to the government's suppression of a blogger. A pair of Christian evangelists came to my door, and when I told them that I was Jewish they smiled and said we're all God's children, when I suspect they thought I was really destined to burn in Hell.

I am a globalist, because I feel kinship with people all over the world. Because we share similar ethics, interests, passions, knowledge.  Sometimes I don't feel that kinship with my own neighbors. I think one of the great miracles of the Internet and blogosphere is that we can find people we share kinships with all over the world--at least if their governments don't get in the way.

I may not ever belong in a business larger than my home office can accommodate, which means my wife, my dog, cat and myself, but I have truly become a globalist.

Comments

[Ivan Chew]

"Global Citizen" has a nicer ring to it. Ah, but you say "Toe-mae-toe", I say "Toe-mah-toe"... they're still the same thing.

[Justin Thorp]

Right on! I am amazed at the amount of people,around the world, that I get exposed to and get to network with because of my blog. It is truely an amazing tool.

[Rich]

I regard myself as an American first and foremost. And you don't have to be a right-wing zealot to have such a belief. I am not a right-wing zealot, or a left-wing zealot. I have met people from other nations (One of whom is a very good friend of mine. My friend is from Niger), but I do not consider myself a globalist.