Global Citizenship

I see myself more as a global citizen. While I was born in America, my mom is from Mexico and my dad is from El Salvador. As a result, I have been exposed to different cultures from a young age and grew up in a Spanish-English bilingual household. I have not only developed an interest for understanding my Hispanic culture but other cultures as well. For me, being a global citizen means being aware of other cultures as nations are increasingly becoming more intertwined and diverse. As more people from different parts of the world are interacting, it becomes more important to have an understanding of their culture and language to create a sense of awareness and consideration for other ideas and ways of living. Technology has also contributed to my sense of awareness of other nations as it easy for me to go online and see what is happening in any part of the world and learn about a nation through their news, culture, and entertainment. Global citizenship to me means having an awareness of the interdependence between nations and approaching different cultures with an open mind.

Being a global citizen also stems from the belief that nations should not act alone in solving global problems, but rather should cooperate, since many problems transcend national borders and faster progress could be made through cooperation. As COVID-19 has shown, is not enough to ignore global problems by passing it off as only another country’s problem. For example, if some nations do not have the resources to eradicate COVID-19, then that becomes a problem for other nations as well. It also means not just striving for the advancement of your own country, but also the advancement of other countries as well. The advancement of more countries means more opportunities for new ideas and innovation to come out of them that could benefit a larger pool of people.