Interestingly, thinking globally can indeed help you act locally. Now, we don’t want to appear completely consumed with being all-American thinking all of the time. Life just doesn’t work like that, and we understand this. We must all think globally to make the equation (and the phrase) valid.

Last week, we discussed hate crimes. To clarify, according to the Federal Bureau of Investigations, a hate crime, “also known as a bias crime, is a criminal offense committed against a person, property, or society that is motivated, in whole or in part, by the offender’s bias against a race, religion, disability, sexual orientation, or ethnicity/national origin.” So, these crimes are committed against a group of people which the attacker likely does not understand.

Hate crimes are composed of blindness. And this is why thinking globally becomes so important. We need to read up, learn, understand, and appreciate all of the beautiful countries of the world.

Keep in mind that, according to the Central Intelligence Agency’s World Fact Book 2007, only 82% of Americans speak English. That’s an enormous chunk of individuals left over who reside in the US and with whom we need to learn to communicate.

So, open a book, a web browser, and your mind to learn something today about someone who’s likely sitting near you. After all, what did a little global thinking ever do to anybody?

Resources

“The World Factbook.” The Central Intelligence Agency. 16 October 2007 <https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/>.

“Hate Crime.” The Federal Bureau of Investigation. 16 October 2007 <http://www.fbi.gov/ucr/cius_04/offenses_reported/hate_crime/index.htmll>.

Image courtesy:

“Canada Celebrates Multiculturalism.” The Salvation Army in Canada. 27 June 2006. 16 October 2007 <http://www.salvationarmy.ca/2006/06/27/canada-celebrates-multiculturalism/>.