Going Global

A Chinese myth called the Red Thread of Fate claims that the gods tied a red thread around every one of our ankles and attached it to all of the people whose lives we are destined to touch.  I learned of this legend from Touch, an underrated show about a boy who can predict the future and see numbers and patterns that most people cannot.  His father is played by Kiefer Sutherland.  The show focuses on the interconnectedness between people around the world, a concept that sounds quite similar to  globalization.

Globalization began when a man embarked on a journey to a foreign land and brought home something new and exciting that everyone wanted—possibly silks from China or spices from India.  The expansive trade that followed led to the spread of goods as well as ideas and influenced movements such as the Renaissance.  Globalization grew by foot then by horseback then by ship and eventually by trains, planes, and automobiles.  This expansion caused Europeans' "discovery" and settlement of  North America, so without it, the United States would cease to exist.  

During my lifetime, globalization increased technologically more than geographically.
For example, in the 1990s, people only possessed cell phones to call other people, and everyone's phone included an antenna poking out of the top and buttons for numbers.  When I first convinced my parents to buy me a Motorola Razr, only a few of my friends and I could text, and I thought this was the coolest thing ever.  Now, cell phones serve as phones, mp3 players, gaming devices, televisions, and computers, and somehow still fit in our pockets.  We can access the entire world from any place and any time we want.  As a result, cell phones play a critical role in our culture, especially my generation.  I can safely say that most Americans are addicted to their phones and that Apple could control the world.

The Internet itself expands with globalization.  My generation witnessed the emergence of social media particularly Facebook and Twitter.  People can communicate and share events from across the planet in a matter of seconds.  We can find information on virtually any person by simply doing a little research.  Printed books, magazines, and newspapers are nearly irrelevant, because they can all be accessed online.  The Internet opened a world of endless information.  The power to manipulate the Internet, however, can produce issues like plagiarism, spreading of false facts, and leaks of private information.

Globalization is also strongly related to immigration.  America's richly diverse culture grew from the immigration of people from all over the world, and it continues to grow every day.  Hundreds of languages are spoken in the U.S. by people from a wide variety of races, ethnicities, and cultures.  As a teacher, I will work with many students from other countries and languages, and I am working on obtaining my English as a Second Language licensure.  Unfortunately, globalization and immigration have sparked discrimination and hatred among people across the planet chiefly as a result of ignorance.  I believe in extinguishing such hatred and spreading an appreciation for diversity among our students.

Globalization, whether through technology, immigration, transportation, economics, or the simple spreading of ideas, is a powerful concept that constantly shapes our world and connects and intertwines us by more and more red thread.  We truly live in a world without walls.