April
25, 2020
April
25, 2020
Today’s
observation – the future needs to become global. There is so much melding of synergy
between countries and cultures, we are woven together with economics, entertainment,
health, politics and finances. I say
this while sitting in a tiny global village of foreigners nested in the
Caucasian-prone Midwest. How few years ago were the newly arriving residents
considered foreign too? Our communication/journalists network works best when the
lines that artificially divide us are allowed to thin. Global issues require global
collaborative problem solving. It benefits us to look wider than the American
Way when dealing with things like the pandemic and following global
recession. After all, the American Way
is the world’s way. Once we severed
generational connections to place, where earth, wind, and water shaped not only
our culture but our biochemistry, we surrendered much of what produces
geopolitical identity. It is in the water. And as we have mingled with pilgrims
from other places, like our parents and grandparents a singularity of purpose or
character has had to evolve or become vestigial. It is for this reason, as I
look for news of useful input about matters like the current health crisis, I
have my eyes and ears trained on leaders that are not mansplaining the scene. I
listen to Jacinda Arden, the millennial prime minister of New Zealand, and Chancellor
Angela Merkel, the great mother from Germany.
I appreciate the way they can humanize the analysis of the science surrounding
the new virus, and how they use it in their approaches when asking citizens to
cooperate with important measures. (Of course, these two have to wrestle with
alligators too). Still it is very gratifying to read about their thoughtful responses
as compared with totalitarian methods like those of Narendra Modi’s or Jair
Bolsonaro. As far as I’ve been able to
assess, extended heavy-handed mandates to rally the will of the people usually
backfires with counterproductive consequences like neighborhood infighting or detrimental
and polarized acting out. We do not need
this now.
But
I want to redirect this rant toward some lighter moments of homogenization from
the day. It is a Saturday and a chilly and damp one, at that. I decided it is time to cultivate a canasta
culture, so I start by teaching a bevy of bright Vietnamese students this card
game with Uruguay roots. To be fair, I did warn them that canasta can be
engaging to the point of addiction. They
chimed in unison, teach us now! Joining us in the commons were Moroccan
girls binging on a new Grey’s Anatomy season as they fast for Ramadan. Meanwhile, a Chinese couple has prepared a
delicious supper for us, and a couple of Mexican men delivered soil for our
garden boxes. In this picture, I see us
as either all foreigners or are all citizens of the Earth. This is what we have
always been, growing deeper with laminations of worldliness. Maybe our growing populations, affluence and efficiencies
in travel bring us together as never before. Nonetheless, here we are, and the viruses
breaking loose from their traditional hosts jump around the world because we
do. They can be a strange and useful
mirror.
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