Cayla Barbour

Tom & Grace

GST 101 002
4/25/2013
Philosophy of Global Citizenship
In the year 2020, I have graduated as an international lawyer, and I
currently work as a diplomat in the United Nations. I oversee the policies and
the efforts to manage the activity of multinational corporations and the
agreements between individual nations to ensure that everything is fair. The
United Nations has a larger, more legitimate, and evolving role in the world
than it had a few years ago. It is not exactly becoming a world government,
but the organization does have much to say with intergovernmental actions,
especially involvements in developing countries. I work on developing
strategies that are beneficial to both parties, whiling maintain cultural
traditions and mediating tensions of different perspectives. Some people
may say that I worked myself into a system rather fight it as an activist, or
that my actions are not loud enough to be recognized for change, but I
disagree with them. In contrast, I know I still am an activist because of my
choices to become involved with the United Nations, to bring about the
changes that I am working on, and because I am working within the system
to fix it. I am trying to solve issues at the root by taking responsibility and
use my own education to make others aware and respectful of the concepts
of perspective and the need for change. I am still an activist, and I maintain

what I learned as a Global Studies major in every decision no matter the size
as a global citizen.
If I had to sum up "global citizenship" in a single statement, it would be
"human kind is to be educated, aware, and responsible to take action against
injustices across the world for the sake of every individual, state, and the
globe as a whole." Entering the field Global Studies, I had not anticipated the
amount of activism I would be embracing. The major initially seemed like the
analysis of interactions in the world rather than what is wrong with it, and
what can we do to fix it. Going into my new major, I had very little idea
what activism truly was, and I had even less desire to be one. The first few
weeks of Global Studies 101 were tough because I was very nervous for what
I had signed up for as a major. Despite my fear and apprehension, I was
determined to shape my Global Studies experience to be what I wanted;
then, I learned a few important things: I learned that activism is the action of
reaching the problem at the root, and not only treating it, but helping to
eliminate it all together. From my work with my non-profit, I had already
understood that responsibility in activism means that if we have the ability to
respond, we must accept that responsibility. In Global Studies, I discovered
that in order to work this way, we need to be educated and aware of the
problems around us, and be able to see them from every perspective. From
the first day of my Introduction to Global Studies, I learned that there is no
single right way to live. This first class brought about so many issues that
turned perspectives every way possible, and no matter how invested I was in

the topic, one message spanned across them all: "How can we take action?"
If there is an injustice, why aren't we working towards the better for all? As a
global citizen, we live in a world with other people, and we have the ability to
respond when needed. This is where I realized that I could still use my major
however I pleased; I could focus on politics, health, business, etc. Global
activism permeates all international realms, because it is really simply made
up of our decisions in those realms. If I choose one or two fields of any other
type, the policies I choose to advocate for reflect my knowledge and
awareness as a global citizen. The reason I did not choose to specifically
major in political science or international business is because of their limits.
Now, I am happy I made that decision because the things I learn in Global
Studies applies to any and every field scholastically and beyond.
The initial step in my journey as an activist really began with this one
class my second semester of sophomore year in college. I can say that I had
ideas of service and a brief definition of activism before 101, but they were
greatly changed in the time of a semester. Activism seemed like a bunch of
protesters holding signs, asking for petitions, or just causing a commotion. I
cant say that these people really bothered me, but sometimes I would
wonder why they always have something to complain about. This was one of
the reasons that 101 made me nervous; I did not want to see a lot of bad
things in the world these people were seeing. Being fairly optimistic and
grateful for what I have, hearing about people who brought down our culture
really frustrated me. My first encounter with this was in the movie about

people of Ladakh. Ancient Futures was a movie that to me seemed like a

criticism of why western culture is always wrong, and I couldnt help but
wonder that the world evolved this way for a reason. Despite my frustration,
the movie got me thinking. My Ishmael had had a similar affect in the class
before, but as the semester went on I realized that the topics were similar in
the sense that they showed up why the modern age is all wrong. In My
Ishmael, we learned about Mother Culture that tells us everything is ok,
when it is not. Mother Culture was telling me that what I was reading was a
load of petty complaints by disgruntled people. It was not until the class had
participated in the 15 Minute Activism Project and the debrief that followed
that I really learned what activism, this class, and this major was really
about. In this project, we were assigned to go change something on campus
planned within 15 minutes, and my group decided to change class structure.
After interviews of students at Raymond Cafeteria, a video of the
presentation of our support, and great class discussion, I learned a lot more
than I expected. Two things that truly stuck out from that conversation were
that, activism is getting to the root of the problem, and it involves action.
During the class discussion, I felt that we had been working to the root as
class structure was the point of the project and were not trying to cover up
an issue; we were hoping to redefine it all together to make a better system
for students. Katie Dul, Katie Sischo, and I were just missing the action. Our
project was more geared towards research, and that is a step towards
activism, but we needed to physically go to do something to get it changed

such as see an administrator or something of that nature. This was the point
when I recognized that activism was the act of changing. It is making the
decisions to fight for what is right, whatever that may be. I also began
learning that although there are some more passionate and sometimes
offensive individuals, anyone can be an activist with even their simplest
choices.
The 15 Minute Activism Project was a very large step for me in Global
Studies. It called for a lot of reflection on what we had been studying and all
that I had already known. Already having worked with a non-profit called the
Massachusetts Youth Leadership Foundation, I help organize a three-day
citizenship conference for sophomores around the state. It is a leadership
conference, but there is so much more to it, and I had never once really
stopped to break down what we were doing or why our tagline is
Empowering Citizenship. Through this class, I realized I was helping
empower activists. Students come to the conference and learn about skills
and opportunities to bring back to their communities, and efforts are started
or enhanced by 16 year olds. I hadnt recognized their real impact until I
could comprehend activism, but that is what our delegates are in their
communities. Throughout my 101 class, I never really stopped complaining
to my friends about certain readings, but my outlook had definitely changed
over time. The transition was from Why am I reading this? to Can you
believe this is happening? A lot of things still irritated me, such as the video
Food, Inc., a video ruining the concept of eating for me. I love food, and I am

not the type of person who can just become a vegetarian despite watching
chickens being killed bringing me to tears. I was horrified with the production
of what I put into my body, but at least now I knew. Now I could make
informed decisions, and I learned that although I cannot always control
where the food comes from, I can choose what to eat. While Food, Inc. upset
me, it was educational, and that is alone extremely important. I learned that
people who want to act need to be educated, and they need to make others
aware as well for support and justification of their cause. When people know
what is going on and understand the ramifications of the current state, this is
when they will take action. Ignorance is not bliss when resources are being
spent and culture is spiraling at a frightening place. T.S. Eliot often spoke
about society being in a social wasteland, but when people are educated
there is hope for change and breakage from the wasteland. The various
topics studied in 101 have definitely given me lasting insight on things I may
not have thought of before. I also gained the knowledge that while I can be
more passionate about certain ideas than others, once there is awareness, it
only takes an act to start activism.
With education and passion, citizens have a duty to respond to the
needs of the world. One of the five star points of my non-profit is
responsibility, and this is the responsibility to respond when we have the
ability. As basic as this may seem, the importance of taking responsibility is
actually forgotten or ignored by millions of people every day. Whether it is
responding to ones own mistakes or coming to the aid of another, millions of

people are blinded by Mother Culture or tricked into seeing what I saw a
group of loud, offensive complainers. A global citizen knows what is
happening, and takes part in the activism in their own way. He or she
recognizes the different perspectives of people and the different types of
activists. These citizens can be teachers, lawyers, doctors, and in any
professions. I mentioned not becoming a political science major to keep my
options flexible, and I am very happy with my choice. Politics is great, and as
a minor I entered that field, but through Global Studies, I have absorbed so
much more knowledge and gained insight which resonates in anything I do. I
can choose not to eat processed meat, and I can lobby for more compromise
in diplomatic relations between countries with contrasting cultures. The
decisions I make are affected by my awareness of the inherent situations, my
passion to respond to the evident discrepancies, and the desire to better the
world. As a global citizen, I recognize that I dont live in this world by myself.
There are other individuals, states, and creatures that contribute to even the
smallest aspect of each others and my own life. Any global citizen should
recognize this and engage in activism in any way regardless of magnitude.