Reflection 5

The discussion last week has left me thinking about what it means to be a global citizen. Although not a new concept, globalization is quickly shrinking the world and making ideas like the global citizen more popular. To me, being a global citizen means feeling a sense of empathy and responsibility towards the entire world's population. It's the recognition of all humans being kin. I have always felt that it was important to know not just what was going on in your country but in the entire world. It has always been strange to me when people said they didn't think that it was important to help people facing gross human rights violations outside of the US. It seemed selfish and wrong.  I still feel this way, but more and more I'm questioning the importance of foreign aide.

More and more often I'm hearing evidence that foreign bodies (governmental or not) coming into a country can do more harm than good. It seems to me that at the very least, the most important changes in a country happen on the level of the people. Take Haiti, overrun by NGOs and begging for the majority to leave the country and citing them as hindering progress. Sometimes I wonder if NGOs can be preventing the population for acting for themselves, or for the country taking its natural and gradual process towards a better state. Whenever I think this, I remind myself that in many places NGOs are doing things such as handing out their very limited source of medicine and food, basic things needed to survive. Even then they aren't getting enough for basic living requirements, hardly a crutch or something to rely on. How can groups like this be doing anything but helping in the small yet very large way they can? But still, the question remains of what may be different if there was no foreign aid. Certainly more people would have died. But would things be taking a turn?

In the end, my love of cultures will keep me from being anything besides a global citizen, and I've never felt like the US was the only place I should live. If I haven't lived in at least 4 separate countries by the time I'm 40 I'll be highly disappointed in myself. However I think before I decide what I want to do, I'd like to do more research into what types of programs are actually causing society to progress, or are genuinely helping a community.  I'd like to participate in the growth of a community.