When I think about September 11, 2001, my heart breaks. Not just for the victims and families of those who perished in the deadly attacks; but, for hundreds of thousands of Muslim families, who, overnight became enemies of the United States as well. These were families whose religion teaches peace, tolerance and charity. Yet, to many angry Americans they were marginalized and treated as monsters set on terrorizing innocent Americans.
This kind of hate is self-destructive and corrosive to society as a whole. It breaks down the trust between the many cultures which share this finite planet. In the wake of September 11, surveys and bumper stickers showed that a number of Americans supported bombing Muslim countries such as Afghanistan and Pakistan and letting "Allah sort out the rest." How could the peaceful, religious citizens who populated these regions, alongside the small sects of extremists, whose lives were ripped apart by our bombs not grow to hate America for the way we responded? And, so it goes: hate breeds hate and the cycles goes on until the political landscape of the world is one of independence and division.
In order for the world to live sustainably, this kind of political disunity cannot exist. The hate, which divides societies, makes finding global solutions to environmental problems impossible. The bombs, themselves, which light up the night skies over the sparsely populated wild regions of countries like Afghanistan, only add to the problems by destroying habitats in seconds. Even these seemingly inhospitable mountain regions have wilderness that is killed or displaced by these destructive blasts.
However, just as hate breeds hate, so also does love breed love. Most Americans want their country to be seen as one of respect, tolerance and generosity. Those who have travelled abroad, however, have seen that, in many countries, the opposite is true. And, little effort has been made by Americans, as a whole, to understand the histories and cultures of those beyond our borders. There are several possible reasons for this, which I will not go into here, but the bottom line is that most American's are unaware of where they fit in the greater picture of the world as a whole. And, thus, we exist as an island of beliefs and habits, disconnected from the rest of the world.
We, as a country, need a cultural awareness of other countries. We need a feeling of interconnectedness with the belief systems of the rest of the world. Where we demand respect of the world, we should instead offer it and we will then earn the respect that we crave.
In other words, if the world adopted the Golden Rule-- treat others as you want to be treated-- tolerance would be learned, and the difference which tear us apart would, instead, bring us together.
That is the only way that sustainability can be acheived. We can't have a smattering of sustainable communities operating independently around the globe while the rest of the world carries on with business as usual. That won't work. These unsustainable societies would continue to deplete the world's resources, until even the "sustainable" communities are no longer sustainable.
The bottom line is this: sustainability is a global issue and can only be solved by a united global community. The political boundaries established by centuries of conflict and division are hardly relevant when it comes to sustainability. Tearing down these boundaries begins with a lesson that most Americans learn as children-- that of the Golden Rule.
We like to think of ourselves as leaders of the "free world." And, as leaders we are responsible for starting this cycle of tolerance and respect. Leading by example has a far greater impact than militant imposition. Therefore, it is our perogative, as a country, to "be that change we wish to see in the world."
Tuesday, September 15, 2009
Monday, September 14, 2009
Allow Me To Introduce Myself
Hi there! My name is Jamie and I am currently an English major at Florida Gulf Coast University, hoping to add a double minor of creative writing and psychology to my program. I have been out of high school six years, and just decided on this major program at the end of last year, and I am super excited about it.
I hope to use my major/minors to be a writer. Now I know that is a broad word, but I plan to fully explore the whole spectrum of writing throughout my career. There is no facet of writing that does not appeal to me. I just love words. I love reading words, I love hearing words. I love when certain words echo in my head inexplicably for days at a time. I love "surreptitious" and "clandestine" and words that aren't quite as slutty also.
However, as far as my career goes, I would like to write for magazines. I am going to be that girl in the romantic comedy who goes to my interview with the big fashion magazines and begs my editor to take me seriously and let me write socially conscious articles. She will tell me that first I need to spend a few years writing about mani/pedis and the fall/spring/summer/winter look. And that's if I'm lucky.
I took my career path from one of my favorite authors, Oscar Wilde, after "The Portrait of Dorian Gray" changed my life a few years ago. He wrote for a women's magazine for many years, and Oscie (as I call Mr. Wilde) scholars say that his best fiction works were written while he wrote for the magazine. Similarly, my best fiction writings have come when I've been innundated with writing assignments for school.
My life is a puzzle and for the last few years I've been collecting the pieces, and I've only just begun to put them together.
I want to save the world, or at least one little part of it. This is that corner of the puzzle that you know you can put together if you can just find the rest of the border pieces in the huge pile of similarly patterned pieces. I know that I feel drawn to Africa, where my lifelong dream of riding a zebra may finally come true :). And, I know that I am drawn to lions. So, I am thinking about maybe dedicating my life to writing about lion conservation in light of the societies struggling to exist alongside these regal creatures, who have become prey for the lions. But, most likely I will just let myself fall into the natural flow of chance and see where it takes me. I have been reading about inspirational people like Greg Mortensen and Rupert Isaacson, who have given so much of themselves to help their little corners of the world, and I can only hope to be a hundredth of the inspiration that they are.
The thing that draws me to men like Mortensen and Isaacson is that they are so respectful of other cultures, and eager to learn the ways of other people without imposing their personal lifestyles upon them. This cultural worldview is something that is noticably absent in American Society today, and it is kind of a shame.
On a lighter note, I also love riding horses. I have a budding interest in photography and the Tampa Bay Rays. My black lab mix dog is my world. I have an unnatural obsession with the disney channel. I don't eat meat, but I do eat fish occasionally.
I just got over the biggest heartbreak of my life, and that experience has colored, and will continue to color my writing and my perspective on the world for sometime to come. But, not in a miserable way. He is an amazing person who has taught me so much about love, life, and everything in between. And though it took me two years to finally let him go, I wouldn't have traded a moment.
I spend my summers working on a train in Anchorage, Alaska, and plan on continuing to do so until I can come up with the funds to extend my travel plans beyond what is technically considered the United States. Although, anyone who has ever been to Alaska for an extended period of time knows that it is kind of a world apart. It took me two summers to realize it, but I love Alaska. I love working for the train, where I have met some of the most amazing, inspirational people of my life. Even the less amazing, inspirational people have been fantastic, because they will make wonderful characters for some future novel, screenplay or short story.
That's not to say that the people I've met living on Fort Myers Beach won't make good characters, because they, too, are crazy dynamic people whom I love writing about.
So, that, in a rather lengthy nutshell is who I am. Today. Tomorrow is a whole other story. . .
I hope to use my major/minors to be a writer. Now I know that is a broad word, but I plan to fully explore the whole spectrum of writing throughout my career. There is no facet of writing that does not appeal to me. I just love words. I love reading words, I love hearing words. I love when certain words echo in my head inexplicably for days at a time. I love "surreptitious" and "clandestine" and words that aren't quite as slutty also.
However, as far as my career goes, I would like to write for magazines. I am going to be that girl in the romantic comedy who goes to my interview with the big fashion magazines and begs my editor to take me seriously and let me write socially conscious articles. She will tell me that first I need to spend a few years writing about mani/pedis and the fall/spring/summer/winter look. And that's if I'm lucky.
I took my career path from one of my favorite authors, Oscar Wilde, after "The Portrait of Dorian Gray" changed my life a few years ago. He wrote for a women's magazine for many years, and Oscie (as I call Mr. Wilde) scholars say that his best fiction works were written while he wrote for the magazine. Similarly, my best fiction writings have come when I've been innundated with writing assignments for school.
My life is a puzzle and for the last few years I've been collecting the pieces, and I've only just begun to put them together.
I want to save the world, or at least one little part of it. This is that corner of the puzzle that you know you can put together if you can just find the rest of the border pieces in the huge pile of similarly patterned pieces. I know that I feel drawn to Africa, where my lifelong dream of riding a zebra may finally come true :). And, I know that I am drawn to lions. So, I am thinking about maybe dedicating my life to writing about lion conservation in light of the societies struggling to exist alongside these regal creatures, who have become prey for the lions. But, most likely I will just let myself fall into the natural flow of chance and see where it takes me. I have been reading about inspirational people like Greg Mortensen and Rupert Isaacson, who have given so much of themselves to help their little corners of the world, and I can only hope to be a hundredth of the inspiration that they are.
The thing that draws me to men like Mortensen and Isaacson is that they are so respectful of other cultures, and eager to learn the ways of other people without imposing their personal lifestyles upon them. This cultural worldview is something that is noticably absent in American Society today, and it is kind of a shame.
On a lighter note, I also love riding horses. I have a budding interest in photography and the Tampa Bay Rays. My black lab mix dog is my world. I have an unnatural obsession with the disney channel. I don't eat meat, but I do eat fish occasionally.
I just got over the biggest heartbreak of my life, and that experience has colored, and will continue to color my writing and my perspective on the world for sometime to come. But, not in a miserable way. He is an amazing person who has taught me so much about love, life, and everything in between. And though it took me two years to finally let him go, I wouldn't have traded a moment.
I spend my summers working on a train in Anchorage, Alaska, and plan on continuing to do so until I can come up with the funds to extend my travel plans beyond what is technically considered the United States. Although, anyone who has ever been to Alaska for an extended period of time knows that it is kind of a world apart. It took me two summers to realize it, but I love Alaska. I love working for the train, where I have met some of the most amazing, inspirational people of my life. Even the less amazing, inspirational people have been fantastic, because they will make wonderful characters for some future novel, screenplay or short story.
That's not to say that the people I've met living on Fort Myers Beach won't make good characters, because they, too, are crazy dynamic people whom I love writing about.
So, that, in a rather lengthy nutshell is who I am. Today. Tomorrow is a whole other story. . .
Saturday, September 12, 2009
My quest to save the world
I want to be a missionary. Not in a religious way necissarily. Those people, I am told, are called humanitarian. So, I have decided that I am going to use my gift of words to reach people and save the world. I'm not sure exactly how I'm going to do that yet. But, that's where I am at right now. I am going to use this blog as much as I can toward this goal of becoming a travel writer with a humanitarian focus. But, I am also going to blog on mycare2.com, and focus primarily on global/conservation issues. However, mycare2.com is a brilliant website that everyone should check out, because simply by clicking on links to causes, their advertisers will donate a given amount of money to said causes. So, everyone who loves the world go to this site! Oh, and I am NOT a hippie. :)
I am not ashamed to say this. . .
. . . but I LOVE Selena Gomez. She is the coolest 16 year old chick ever. I'm just saying. My whole blog won't be like this. I promise. Oh, and she has amazing hair!
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