THE CONCEPT OF GLOBAL CITIZENSHIP, PT 2.

Today, we witnessed France beat Croatia to win the World Cup. Events that bring all countries of the world together often remind us that we are global citizens.

 

Welcome back to the second part of this topic. I will like to begin by reminding us of what Global Citizen(ship) is so we don’t lose touch of our subject.

 

A global citizen is someone who identifies with being part of an emerging world community and whose actions contribute to building this community’s values and practices.

-Universal

A global citizen is someone who is aware of and understands the wider world – and their place in it. They take an active role in their community, and work with others to make our planet more equal, fair and sustainable

-Oxfam

Global citizenship is the idea that all persons having rights and civic responsibilities that come with being a member of the world, with whole-world philosophy and sensibilities, rather than as a citizen of a particular nation or place. The idea is that one’s identity transcends geography or political borders and that responsibilities or rights are derived from membership in a broader class: “humanity”. This does not mean that such a person denounces or waives their nationality or other, more local identities, but such identities are given “second place” to their membership in a global community…

-Wikipedia

 

Now, I will want explain why we should be global citizens.

A man was at the shore picking throwing back starfish swept by the tide into the sea. A woman passing asked, “What jobless act is this?” The man responded, “The act of giving everything the privilege to exist. These ones too are citizens of the earth!”

Our existence is of great significance. Just the very fact that we exist in the universe is all that matters! Before we even think of living, which comes with greater responsibilities, being in existence makes all the difference. Now, a lot of people have the mentality of inductive reasoning: we often start from the smallest to the biggest. For instance, I can say that I am from Diamond Hill in Henshaw Town of Calabar Municipal LGA of Cross River State, in the South South of Nigeria, in West Africa, Africa (then it can go further to) …of planet earth, in the solar system of the universe; whereas, it’s the other way round. I am first a citizen of the universe! The very fact that I exist makes me a privileged citizen of the universe, before I even begin to think of if I am of the earth or not.

I was a good Geography student because I took to curiosity. At a point, I wanted to know if there was life in some other planets in our own solar system- planets like Mars, Venus and Jupiter, then I also wanted to wanted to know if there were other stars like our sun- whether in our galaxy or not- which had their own system of planets surrounding them and if any of those planets could support life. I got to know that there were some speculations that insinuated so. Now, if for any reason, there are other planets habouring life like some foreign movies show, those animals or whatever unearthly reptiles they are, are also citizens of the universe.

Let’s come down to our earth. All the animals and even plants are citizens of the earth and I want to go further to say that all that exists on earth, including the buildings that will outlive us are citizens of the earth. Now, you will say that I am a weird human being, but give me some chance to explain this!

When it comes to the globe which is our world or the earth, so many things exist and humans are just a very tiny fraction. Then existence is further split into living and non-living existence. This is where we now have plants and animals- I mean under living existence. Of these two, the animals can see and move about and do have some sense. In the kingdom of animals, there are various species of animals. The birds, among others, that sing melodious songs in the morning are citizens of the earth, but unfortunately we have driven them away by cutting down trees and building high rise buildings thereby replacing them with non-living global citizens. LOL!

When we get even narrower, we come to the human race where we fall, so before we even think of continent, race, country, state, religion, ethnic group, LGA, village, clan and family, we should know that we(humanity or human race) are a very tiny segment of all that exist in the universe. There is no time to waste in getting too narrow to the point that that our root is tinier than a pixel! In the under-120years that we will exist, let’s live as citizens of the universe because there are zillion more people, animals, plants and things who were never given the chance to exist. That lake that wanted to form but was sandfilled, that baby that was aborted, that bridge that was planned but never constructed, that sprouting crop whose head was trampled upon was never given the chance to exist.

Now if you were conceived on 20^th June 1989, your conception inhibited the formation of another baby in your mother’s womb for the next 9 months and even months after. Think of the probability of your mother conceiving a probability of  more than a thousand different babies that wouldn’t have been you within that period. Wow! How did i come about such a number? You were conceived when one out of many eggs of your mother was fertilized by your father’s sperm. If it were another sperm still at that moment, it wouldn’t have been you… So let me continue! You blocked the chances of having your about 1000 different types of your siblings which would have had the semblance of your parents and you but would never have been you. If you had been conceived the following day after you were conceived, I bet that you wouldn’t have been you still, but another person altogether. Still then, because of family planning your parents waited at least one year after you were born to conceive another baby. Think of a thousand more different personalities you blocked from coming into this world. So you see that until your younger brother or sister was conceived on 9^th September  1991, probably, you had to be the only baby in your family to exist within that period. Okay, what if you mother and your father never met, would you have been the same you? The combination of genes that you have are from your two parents, so your mother and another man would have meant your half-sibling and not you. Being conceived of your parents and at a particular point in time was a coincidence- a divine destiny to exist on earth! I tell you that your existence in this life is of great consideration! And by this, I mean that every one of us who has had the privilege to exist should rather appreciate existence than put tags on our necks. We are nothing but existing beings, nothing but humanity!

Global citizenship is the idea that all persons having rights and civic responsibilities that come with being a member of the world, with whole-world philosophy and sensibilities, rather than as a citizen of a particular nation or place. The idea is that one’s identity transcends geography or political borders and that responsibilities or rights are derived from membership in a broader class: “humanity”. This does not mean that such a person denounces or waives their nationality or other, more local identities, but such identities are given “second place” to their membership in a global community…

 

Global citizenship brings us to the common ground of our existence, it breaks down walls of divisions and discrimination, making us understand that the privilege of existence is what we share; that we must open our arms wide to accommodate all, especially those of our specie- the human race. It further places on us the responsibility to make our world a better place by our thoughts, words and actions. Let us therefore think peace, think diversity, think positive social change, think Sustainable Development Goals.

 

As global citizens, may we come to:

1. identify with being part of an emerging world community and take actions that contribute to building this community’s values and practices.
2. come to the awareness and understanding of the wider world – and our place in it; play an active role in our community and work with others to make our planet more equal, fair and sustainable
3. come to understanding that we have rights and civic responsibilities that come with being a member of the world, with whole-world philosophy and sensibilities, rather than as a citizen of a particular nation or place. And that our identity transcends geography or political borders and that responsibilities or rights are derived from membership in a broader class: “humanity”. This does not mean that we will denounce or waive our nationality or other, more local identities, but we shall give such identities “second place” to our membership in of the global community.