Tuesday, December 15, 2009

a random international, cross-cultural thought... globalism

I have so many random thoughts. I have them constantly. Seriously - the thoughts never stop. I don't write about a lot of them, but I think I am going to start more often.
That's really why I started this blog - not so much to always have these polished articles to dispense knowledge & ideas to the world [sarcasm], but as an outlet for me to think out loud! I'm going to start doing that more & this post is an example. They might make me look ignorant, but that's ok... it's my blog & I'm just thinking out loud. A lot of completely unprocessed, still-forming-in-my-brain-thoughts...

Here's my thought: If someone just wakes up 1 day and wants to go live in another country, THEY CAN'T.
isn't that weird?
Maybe it's not weird to you because that's just the world we've always known. Those geo-political boundaries are set in stone. But to me, it's really weird that if I just wanted to go live in another country... just for the heck of it... I couldn't. It wouldn't be that easy!
I would have to fill out all kinds of paperwork, make sure I have a passport and a visa if I'm staying forever... + probably a lot of other stuff I don't even know about. I couldn't just hop a plane & go. Why not?

*I haven't looked up all the rules or anything. I don't really know what the laws are going to & coming from all the other countries, so I admit, I am a little ignorant. But I figure that renown readers can probably tell me more about this than wikipedia, so go ahead and leave me a comment & explain all this if you want...

I guess it's all about keeping tabs on everyone? All our geo-political borders are so solid that countries don't want peeps from other nations slipping in unannounced. (And I am well aware that 9/11 changed the world, but these laws were the same even before that, right?)


To me it's just a weird world that we live in when we have to stay so divided. If I wanted to move to New Zealand tomorrow, or Egypt, or Germany, or Kazakstan, or Malawi, or Chile, or Indonesia, or Canada, or Mexico, or Kenya, or Ireland, or Poland, or anywhere else... I couldn't just "up & do it." That is SOOOO weird to me. What if I just wanted to move to Liberia, get an apartment, get a job, try the local restaurants, make some friends, and just live there for 5 years and then come back? not that simple.

Same with the U.S. When did it even start that if someone wanted to come live in America they couldn't just come move here? When did it become "illegal"? Maybe it has something to do with paying taxes? Or making sure we all get counted in a census? I don't know...

I just think it's weird in our world of 6 billion + that any person doesn't really have the freedom to live wherever they want.

4 comments:

brenda said...

Hey Patrick--

I just read your blog... moving to another country is a ton of work! I don't know that I ever had thoughts like yours before moving to Brasil... but once I started the paperwork process to get my work visa I realized that a lot of effort, time, and money goes into moving overseas. And for some reason I thought that all of that was behind me once I got here, but I spent my first several days in Sao Paulo being dragged everywhere... with tons more paperwork!

But it was definitely worth all the time and frustration! Living here has been amazing... I love serving our Savior in the place He has called me to!

Brenda

Anonymous said...

I think globalism is and will be a major push as we enter the final days before Christ's return. One world money everyone needs a card or maybe a mark to buy or sell. Many things you will find in the bible about this one world government, and most of the one-worlders today are very against everything we stand for. Some day in our new heavenly home it will be a pure Globalism.
Cool huh?

patrick mitchell said...

BRENDA!!! so awesome to hear from you! thanks for the comment! i had fun catching up on your blog. Keep writing so i can keep up with all that's going down with you!
so stoked about what you're doing & how God is using you. that's so awesome! (Carlos Moo & I were just talking about your school the other day)

keep rockin' it for Jesus in Brasil!

patrick mitchell said...

anonymous, globalism is an AWESOME thing - just as you hinted at when you said "in our new heavenly home it will be a pure Globalism. Cool huh?"
i celebrate globalism and hope it continues to move forward.

I don't really think you can link globalism (the fact that our world is becoming "smaller"/ we are more and more exposed to other cultures/ we can be in another country in just hours, etc...) a bad thing can you? I can't see why it would be a negative.

& I guess you never really know when the end might be drawing near? could be a million years from now? who knows?

*But I agree overall - you are dead right. One day there will be pure globalism when Jesus reigns :) that will be a great day. way cool.