Cornucopia of Culture

Do you ever look back at your life or childhood and say, "There were so many signs!"  As a child, one of my favorite book's was Pancho's Pinata.  I remember once asking for this electronic globe for Christmas that had a stylus attached.  When you touched it to a country, it would give you information on that country.  When I was in High School, we joined the Model United Nations and I was responsible for representing Ukraine.  I think I did a terrible job because I kept trying to figure out what would be the solution with the greatest benefit for the most nations and the least negative repercussions, as opposed to worrying about the interests of my own country.  My mindset has long been one that thinks outside the borders of my own country, even back when I was a small waif of child, my influence and effect on the wider world caused me to worry.

Back when I was wee

Fast forward a few countries and a few new languages, and though my perspectives have expanded, that internal motivation is much the same.  I still greatly enjoy pondering solutions to global problems that are cross-culturally relevant and relate-able.  I love seeing cultures come together and figuring out how to make that work.  A few days back, my Vietnamese-Chinese-Texan friend and I walked into an Indian restaurant in Thailand, which had Italian decor, German wall hangings and Spanish music blaring.  We chatted about our friends in Bolivia, El Salvador, and Tanzania, as well as our lives in Cambodia and the struggles of a government that only looks out for the short-term benefit of the few rather than the long-term benefits of the many. I didn't realize at the time, that experience was kind of like a UN meeting with 12 different countries somehow included (13 if you count Texas).  It reinforced for me how interconnected our world has become.  And, I realized how much more fun life is when we have that overlap.  We cannot make decisions in one place without understanding the implications an ocean away and now, thanks to the joy of the internet, we may see the repercussions. 

Embracing the cultural traditions of Cambodian weddings

As I begin to prepare to leave my Cambodian home of three years, I have been reflecting on all the places I have lived and the people who have been my home.  It is reassuring to me in those moments that it is not my residence that makes me a global citizen but an approach to life that has been coursing through my veins long before I could name it.  The anxiety that comes with trying to consider the implications of our actions far beyond any man-drawn lines on a map is definitely outweighed by the beauty of knowing our positive mark on the world can be felt around the globe and, more than ever before, we have the opportunities to learn from the whole cornucopia of cultures this planet has to offer.  As my friend James joked, "We will be the first in line for the Global Citizen passport."  One that I think would be the equivalent of a globally recognized TSA pre-screening pass.  May we all take advantage of this moment in time that provides us the opportunity to see beyond the walls of our immediate reality.


This post is part of Blogging Abroad’s 2017 New Years Blog Challenge