Gene's Blog

Thoughts on global citizenry

I’ve had occasion recently to have a discussion with a fellow who agrees with me on the idea that we can no longer consider ourselves, or should perhaps is a better word, residents of one country, but rather residents of one planet. The idea has been in me quite a long time, hence the name of this domain, giggle. We were talking about Maria Sharapova who is at the moment probably the best female player on this tiny blue dot in space. It seems there is a bit of a fight going on in various circles over her – she came to the United States at the age of 7, was too young for the tennis academy she wanted to attend and had to wait until she was 9. She was here alone with her father – now I won’t go into what I think of that fellow or his behavior, but I do understand the sacrifices he’s made for his child. Anyway, she was apart from her mother for two full years and has grown up in this country. But she considers herself Russian and elected to play for the Russian team in something called the Fed Cup – many sports have similar activities, golf has two, Ryder Cup, which is American players against European players, and the President’s Cup which is American players against the part of the world that isn’t Europe, lol. Davis Cup is the men’s tennis equivalent. Apparently Maria riled up some on the Russian team by not attending Fed Cup matches last year, which caused a ruckus, unsurprisingly, we humans can find something to argue about under any circumstances. So, she took a beating in the Russian press, and the American press apparently weighed in with their opinion that she was for all intents and purposes an American player, having spent far more time in this country than in her homeland – she’ll be 21 in April. It doesn’t hurt matters that she is incredibly talented, 6’2″, blond, cute and speaks flawless unaccented English as well as Russian. She makes more money from endorsements each year than many athletes will make in a career from their sport and many, many times what any average citizen of either Russia or America will make in a lifetime. So, in other words, it doesn’t suck to be her, giggle.

It occurs to me that Maria is a global citizen. She lives in the United States, for now, but has said, I understand, that she intends to return to live in Russia when her athletic career is finished. It really doesn’t matter to me whether she does or does not. In truth, we all are, or will be, global citizens. These little lines we draw on the ground don’t mean anything, don’t do anything, but give us an excuse to argue over who owns what piece of dirt. We live on one world. The lines that divide us are artificial and being blurred ever more, day by day. It is a global economy, it is a global geopolitical structure and one day we will recognize AND accept that we are but one people, in varied hues and speaking many languages, but under our skin color, we are all one.

Athletes demonstrate this most visibly right now but business has been doing it quietly for a lot longer. We are connected by more than we know. Our real problem is, as I have said before, and WILL say again, lol, is that we define family too narrowly, brother, sister, mother, father, cousin, aunt, uncle. We don’t harm family. My idea is simply that we must we expand the definition of family to include ALL of us, THEN, maybe we can stop blowing each other up over things that in the end mean nothing. We come here, we live, we die, we go home. All of us, each and every one, no exceptions. What matters at all, if anything does, is how we treat each other here, WHO we become while we are here, although in truth, CWG says even that does not ultimately matter, nonetheless it IS the reason we come here at all, veiled though we may be, our memories of home buried deep within us – it is that which I consider the light globes to have been, for whatever reason, perhaps yet to be revealed, I’ve been given a glimpse of home, a glimpse powerful enough to have me HERE, on this domain, doing what I am doing. And, it is in me that what I will do does not necessarily end with this blog or what I’ve written on the main site. That we shall see about.

But for now, Maria is an exemplary example of blending cultures and erasing borders. We should all do so well as she in being home wherever on the planet she happens to be. She said in her doodle (her own little blog) when she pulled out of this week’s tournament in Dubai because she has come down with a bug (probably watching her in Qatar last weekend is how I caught mine, giggle, though I still think it more likely it was that coughing queen on the bus last week) and I am most disappointed because that means only golf on tv this weekend, lol, that she was excited to go home. I don’t think she meant Moscow. Home is where she is, for now, her base is here, that will change in her later years or not, it doesn’t matter. It really doesn’t matter. It really doesn’t matter for any of us. We are one people on one world. And the sooner we all get THAT point, the sooner we stop killing each other over things that, in the long run, mean nothing. This planet has been in existence 5 billion years, give or take, we have 6000 years of recorded history, most of that bloody and violent. It is time that stop. One way to help it stop is to admire people for who they are, not WHAT they are, or what color they are or what part of the globe they were born on. One people, one world. It is the only truth that matters. So, be peaceful, be friendly, make peace, make friends – we’re all here doing the same exact thing, living. much love, :^) gene

If today brings even one choice your way
choose to be a bringer of the light :^) gene