Being Global, Being Inclusive, Being Neutral
While Western values might threaten to dominate other cultures with the spread of global culture, making them the same, global citizenship is a provided chance for people to stand on the neutral ground, which helps them to view problems more rationally and accordingly with different cultural values.
Being a global citizen is realizing and understanding the world to a greater extent, which is a simple definition, but it means more. Would you help people from lower social backgrounds, especially when you have privileges? Are you willing to take world issues as one of your responsibilities, and solving them together with the world? These are all the questions that global citizens should ask themselves.
In addition to checklists of being global citizens, what does global citizenship give us?
My childhood memories start from China, just like other Chinese children except I was born in Italy. My birthplace did not have much influence on me throughout my thirteen years of living in China, and for me, Italy is a country in which I could visit my parents during vacations. Chinese unique traditions and cultural values are deeply embedded in my mind, and I clearly identify myself as a part of China.
The turning point was in my eighth grade when my parents decided to send me to Switzerland to study. The fact that I was born in Italy becomes conspicuous since I was frequently being asked if I am Chinese or Italian and I started to spend more time in Italy than in China because Italy is closer to Switzerland. I started to learn the Italian language and understand many Italian cultures and customs, and I started to love Italian food, their slow pace of life, and the scenery. Five years of living in Europe make my part of identity a European. Besides that, my study life in Switzerland also changed me, and I became much more open-minded with the different cultures I have seen in my international school.
However, could people who rooted in one country become global citizens?
I believe that ones’ location will never limit their minds, and our lives are filled with interconnections between cultures. Receiving global news is never a goal that hard to achieve, making people aware of world issues if they really care about the world. Also, traveling and experiencing another culture instead of visiting sceneries is helpful to become more open-minded as long as they are willing to accept new changes.
Nevertheless, some say that globalization diminishes or even eliminates the importance of culture and traditions. Admittedly, my original traditions of Chinese culture become less important since I studied abroad. Being in an environment that has rarely any Chinese element, my Chinese identity seldom appears except in situations like International Week. For the first year of studying in Switzerland, I was not used to having holidays for Christmas instead of Spring Festival, and the atmosphere of Christmas is much stronger than that of Spring Festival. I started to exchange presents with friends under the Christmas tree and wear Christmas sweaters at school, but I could only receive red pockets online and hardly ever get chances to watch fireworks. Moreover, with the influences of surrounding, my views are getting closer to Western values. While marriage is a very important life thing, especially for women, in Chinese culture, Western culture does not value marriage that much. Therefore, I usually argue with my mom when she claims that a woman’s ultimate life goal is to get married. It does not mean that marriage is not important for me, but its priority order is much more behind than top 1. In other words, I learn to have neutral values with my global identity.
Global citizenship allows people to stand in the middle of the balance scale to weigh different sides, considering cultural differences. To be more specific, people usually have different perspectives because they value and view things differently, which is deeply influenced by their cultures. For instance, Westen people and Chinese tend to have opposite attitudes towards wearing face masks during the covid time because of their cultural differences. Because Chinese culture demonstrated collectivism, citizens put the benefits of groups prior to the individual, resulting in higher obedience to the government compared to the individualism of Western culture. Hence, instead of taking only one side, either refusing masks for freedom or fully armed, I understand people’s opinions and decisions from both sides, forming a neutral ground to make rational decisions: wearing masks to protect myself but not too exaggerated.
My global identity is a tool to help me have my thoughts, not follow others, and make decisions reasonably after considering and understanding every side. It never means that we don’t consider our original cultures, on the contrary, I weigh all the cultures that inside me equally. Only by thinking more comprehensively and inclusively, people will know their ultimate choice.
