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Global Citizenship
People who have lived in/learned about other countries are more likely to act and feel like global citizens than those who haven't. They are less fanatic and self-centered, and more tolerant and cooperative. They may have more intelligence, time, and curiosity to learn; or they may have enough money to travel, a first-world passport or a diplomatic one to easily enter any country, or a job or a life necessity requiring much traveling. Even more influential in growing a global citizen is familiarizing with different countries during childhood. As a child, if you had to move with your parents to different countries, spending a year here and another there, you may already be a well-deserving global citizen, with zero-chauvinism and a multinational patriotism (if not multilingualism too), that you are most eligible for a global citizen passport, wherever, whenever issued. Calling Earth home has always been connected to the ability to travel by mind or body. With every technological achievement in those two fields, a new level of closeness between Earth people begins to materialize: by the internet, printing, writing; airplanes, steam engines, horse-riding, etc. It inevitably creates among countries "cooperation and conflict, curiosity and fear, sympathy and animosity, superiority and inferiority, xenophobia and chauvinism, occupation and liberation, etc." The latest internet shock with its continuing aftershocks has crammed all Earth people into a cyber melting pot. It made many grow prematurely enthusiastic about global citizenship and globalization, as they saw how fast they were coming close to one another, mentally. They forgot where their feet stand: the burden of borders still exists, as well as wars, genocides, extremism, colonialism (that only took different forms), etc. A world without borders will end some concepts and entities, and create others. It will gradually create a real effective world government, democratically elected by all Earthans, that will be more respected than the present failed attempts (e.g the UN). Eventually it will become a non-human government, where nobody is needed to represent anybody, and abuse such representation. On a higher level, there won't be a country monopolizing power, technology, weaponry, resources, funds ... that will all be justly shared between nations. There will be unified law and law enforcement world-wide, with no country acting on its own as the policeman-country, advisor-country, usurer-country, thug-country, etc. because there will be no countries. There will only be global entities operated more by near-flawless technology than error-prone humans, to do such jobs more efficiently.
BordersOnce a cheap alternative fuel is found for vehicles to go by, traveling thousands of miles within few minutes or an hour at most, the need for borders, visas and embassies, will automatically disappear. Instead of virtually communicating through wireless and digital technology only, alternative energy sources will allow humans full communication: talking, moving, or settling in the place they choose, where they can learn, work, socialize, or permanently live, among the people, in the environment they most fit into. Political borders are man-made; yet they are more difficult or dangerous to cross, compared to natural borders that technology made no longer a barrier (mountains, forests, deserts, sea, snow, etc.). Most political borders are few centuries or decades old. They are the "fruit" of clashes between world "cultures and interests," that is, people's mental and physical needs, that made some nations keep a distance from others, just like individuals do when they need their own space. However, such unnatural division cannot last for long. Virtual communication is already bridging the cultural gaps between peoples' minds, as well as easing cooperation between them in matters related to their bodies' needs, and other survival issues (by benefiting from technologies such as teleconferencing, etc.): they can distantly, yet efficiently solve many conflicts arising between their different interests, that basically need more listening, talking and understanding, than actual physical presence. In the past, primitive humans tended to solve their problems mostly by using their survival instinct as they lacked the knowledge and intelligence present day humans have. In fact, being physically away from other people is a blessing, as it allows the mind more space to function properly and get the whole picture, that physical contact disturbs, if not totally blocks. Ideas precede actions. The enormous amount of information the Internet has offered and the thoughts it has stimulated in us, made one inevitably wonder:
As for now, one look at the world you live in, watching the morning news for example, makes you wish you had been born at a different future time, away from the present shocking reality. It's a wish not different from what our ancestors once had millennia ago, wishing to be born in our "lucky" present, that many of us intentionally waste, rather than improve or speed up. Until the present changes, many humans can't feel at home, at home! The definition of home needs revision as the borders of such home are constantly changing. The relationship between man and his homeland has to be guided by the same principle of "mutual interest" that humans use in their interactions together: trading, selling, buying, etc. Nobody should pay more/less than what they receive. In such transaction, many emotions had to be left aside (attachment to memories, places and people), and some have to be totally done without, e.g. chauvinism. Not only attachment to what we are familiar with, but what we are curious about shouldn't interfere with our decisions: an itchy foot shouldn't do a brain's job.
World InequalityHome, Sweetless Home! "Equality is an impossible dream," that is not in the nature of life. It took humanity ages of continuous efforts to achieve some relative justice; yet, many people still come to life finding themselves born in harsh environments of poverty, ignorance, diseases, wars or catastrophes. Worse still, they find themselves alone: no family, no sympathy from people or governments. What can they do? There is no turning back: once you come to life, you either fight or die. Some fight, yet they die, because their power is limited, compared to the power of circumstance, of the unfair life. Some can't fight, so death pays them its one and only visit. Others just cut a long story short: they go to death. Society is divided into classes, the world is divided into classes, people are different from people. It's a hierarchy, of anarchy, that fate throws us into; we have to start from there or end there. When we are born in a lucky family, class or country, we complacently say: "Thank God for the beautiful life you gave us," even while watching others die. We measure our happiness sometimes by others' misery — shame! but it's only human nature. We thank our God, whatever that is: Allah, Jehovah, Ra ...! "Thank God I'm Christian, Jew, Muslim ... Thank you for my good family, friends, neighbors, teachers, doctors ...; for my security and freedom here, that others are not allowed: to speak, believe, decide, love, hate ... live. You gave me life, and them death. Praise Allah!" Under the same sky, on other parts of the globe, there are people who have no time to praise the Lord, fighting with Death, who is so busy doing his job. You can be a First World super-citizen, or a Third World nothing. You come to life, opening your eyes, and see life smiling at you: "Welcome to Life!" Or you find eyes that see you as an unwelcome guest, a threat to their existence, a disease that must be eliminated, fast. People then may love you for who you are, or hate you for who you are; either way you didn't choose to be who you are. Eventually, you may think as they say, although they may not think of what they say, accepting, helping, and loving those who don't love you. And if they order you, one day, to say "Hello!" to the dead, sing to the deaf, joke and entertain, while you're burning inside ... you do it, and accept in humiliation. Being a good actor is a survival necessity. Politics, trade, show biz ... and surviving have one thing in common: lying. People lie because Truth hurts that they can't accept it. Worst lies are those told to the ones you love, and to yourself. You end up living two realities, or you end up mad. Serving such a life sentence while you are innocent is such a cruel fate, isn't it? How about escaping, to change that fate? When worse comes to worst, and life becomes worthless, risk is worth it. It's worth drowning in the middle of the sea, being shot or deported at the borders of a strange land ... or going to a real prison (you know, those bleak 4-sided rooms with bars). You have to pay the price for being born in the wrong place, and serve your sentence to the end. With a "misplaced birth" they charge you, a heinous crime worth a severe punishment. Like you didn't have your share, with the God-given authority they have, they declare: "You are going to Hell!" With people like these, who needs hell? Whoever said, "East or west, home is best!" had no sense of direction, or meant somebody else's home (where he enjoyed playing the perfectly useless guest) ... or was in fact a pigeon who got lost.
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