Those who follow Tao recognize the importance of place, people, and nation. But these factors cannot be allowed to hold ultimate sway. Tao affirms the responsibility of the individual over the people. We cannot allow ourselves to be hobbled by the woes and alienation of our race or nation. It is our responsibility to overcome these, even if we can only succeed in our hearts.
~ from 365 Tao: Daily Meditations, Entry 343 ~
I was born in the city of Columbia in the state of Missouri in the United States of America. This makes me a US citizen. It means I'm different -- culturally and geographically -- from someone born in Kenya, Jordan or Indonesia.
Big deal!
I don't spend much time pondering my national citizenship. It's not that I'm unhappy with where I live nor that I don't recognize that Americans enjoy certain freedoms that others are not afforded (like writing all the various things I write on this blog). It's more that I understand that countries, states, cities and the like merely are demarcated by a bunch of arbitrary lines people have drawn and redrawn on maps.
When the subject of citizenship comes up -- which is quite infrequent -- I tend to tell people that I am a citizen of the world or universe. I feel kinship with all things. I am part of the world and the world is part of me.
Big deal!
I don't spend much time pondering my national citizenship. It's not that I'm unhappy with where I live nor that I don't recognize that Americans enjoy certain freedoms that others are not afforded (like writing all the various things I write on this blog). It's more that I understand that countries, states, cities and the like merely are demarcated by a bunch of arbitrary lines people have drawn and redrawn on maps.
When the subject of citizenship comes up -- which is quite infrequent -- I tend to tell people that I am a citizen of the world or universe. I feel kinship with all things. I am part of the world and the world is part of me.
Sometimes the issue of global citizenship comes up in a political discourse. I think those ideas and perspectives might be worthwhile to reflect upon.
ReplyDeleteThanks for an interesting post.
I too consider myself a citizen of the world and universe. And I'm from Saint Louis. I have been to Columbia many times. The last time I visited, I was jealous - they have recycling bins at the gas stations. I feel more and more people are thinking about the arbitrariness of country lines and considering themselves part of the greater group. Things like Global Warming force us to look past one country solutions and projects like Linux, developing in many different places and for THE WORLD, prove that working together, regardless of origin, are possible.
ReplyDeleteI was raised as an East Coaster. My son was born in the Great Northwest (where he now lives and where people thought for various reasons I was a Native American -- my surname was one of the two prominent ones on the reservation and I have high cheekbones and sometimes wore long braids). I have lived in Hawaii more than half my adult life, a place where I felt at first like an ex-pat; now I cannot go back East, anywhere on the Mainland, really, without feeling out of place. I am leaving for China in two weeks; I feel like I am going home. Hawaii is an East-meets-West kind of place if you're open to it.
ReplyDeleteMy point, concurring with yours I think, is I am at home wherever I am.