What does it mean to be a global citizen; what separates us humans from the animals or the insects? We have the power to make peace amongst countries and the will power to commit mass killings anywhere we choose. We create cultural formations that are sustained for generations and we seek out power from the people in hopes to gain the most control over them. There are positive and negative consequences to being a global citizen; however it is our duty to be as unified as possible. Unfortunately, this world cannot, nor will it ever, exist without hierarchal ideals and behaviors; if everyone looked exactly the same, we would still have a handful of people who would label themselves as “better than” the rest simply because of this virtuosic concept. The only way to coexist with each other is to respectfully acknowledge our differences as individuals and not in huge clumps or social groups.
As impossible as it sounds, I believe this can be accomplished in small areas to then further branch out across the nation, and the later the world. In order to appreciate the values of global citizenship, we must first appreciate our own communal values. Participating or contributing in any form during communal gatherings are ways to uplift a community. As a member of the Bloomington community, I want to be more musically involved. The performance at the Runcible Spoon, for example, was an awesome experience for me because I’d never heard live Irish music before, especially in that relaxed setting. I could speak to the musicians without feeling unworthy of their time. I could’ve played my fiddle along with them without feeling incompetent because of the welcoming atmosphere they created. I used to think that the most important concept of music in this society was to be more involved in studio art or high fidelity music, and that’s true. However, I’ve come to realize participatory music is much more valuable than other forms of music because I establish more connections with people in general; music should not be something designated for specific people, but it should be a spiritual way of sharing positive vibes amongst each other. The one thing I could honestly do forever, with or without money, is compose or perform various forms of music in a participatory or presentational setting. When people contribute to their community, the love shared in that community grows to such an extent, people experience and pass on the positive energy to outsiders, thus, eliminating the concept of “outsiders”.
Despite the fact that there are various ways to be involved locally, music in my opinion is my favorite way to be an engaged global citizen. While playing music here is awesome, I will branch off into the world and discover other forms of music performed across the world in order to enhance my knowledge of other cultures. When observing other countries’ music, I acquire more knowledge of what their values are and why those values are so important. Just from listening to reggae music, I can hypothesize the people value freedom, unity, and love. Not to say other countries don’t value these concepts, but many of the songs illustrate these things. Much of the music also has Rastafarian or religious affiliation; people believe in the music because they believe in a higher being, Jah Rastafar “I” or the equivalent of saying “praise the Lord” in a Christian setting.
The most important responsibility of global citizenship is continuing the traditions of one’s culture. The world would be such a boring place if everyone’s culture was the same because we would no longer be able to learn from one another. I’ve recently had the opportunity to travel to Vienna, Austria during this past spring break and I simply enjoyed the vacation. I was somewhat irritated with the fact that there were so many American fashion stores everywhere. I thought it was more difficult to take in the environment because it so similar to my; the only difference, in my opinion, between Vienna and Indianapolis was they spoke Czech or German and the food was twenty times better than American food. Other than the language, food, and land structure, most of Vienna was western. I expected a more distinguished environment and for while I witnessed the authenticity of the Austrian culture, but for the most part the city was way too similar to the U.S.
When I travel to other countries, I love being in the cultural settings without the “westernized” aspects bleeding through. When I imagine myself in the interrelated local, national, and global communities, I find myself more respectful toward people of all nationalities, sexual orientations, and have a broader view of the individuality of people in general. As a local citizen, my connection with people is more intimate because I engage myself in activities with them more frequently. In the national setting, I am most recognized as being part of the stupid social groupings for lack of close relationships with people. In the global setting, people identify me with my country more so than they identify my individuality. I guess my dream of the world coexisting with each other through respectfully acknowledging our individuality cannot truly happen because we’re so far apart. However, if more people make more connections with people around the world, we could meet somewhere in the middle. Advance the indices of everyone to eliminate social grouping and promote encouraging cultural formations everywhere to further expand tradition. It takes a long time to mold a culture, so the sooner we start branching off to make positive relationships the sooner we attain a happier, less hierarchal world society.
No comments:
Post a Comment