Global Citizens Don't Litter!

...is what I overheard one 5-year-old say to another. I was astonished and yet instantly reminded that my then fiancée, now wife, is a genius. After a mere 10 days, these summer campers had grasped wisdom that I had rarely encountered in my years training to become a Master of International Affairs: that genuine global-mindedness comes not from learning facts or trends about the world, but by removing restrictions in the way we perceive ourselves in relation to the Earth. Let me explain...

Rather than spend her entire summer celebrating her hard-earned graduation from Howard (magna cum laude mind you), or holding her breath in anticipation of the biggest day of her life, she chose to serve by planning and running an NGC sponsored, NIHERST administered, multi-age group summer camp. The initial thought was to teach children, adolescents and teens "about globalization", but Legena knew the implicit need was to turn emerging citizens into global citizens. To do so, they would learn to appreciate the very apparent diversity in the world, but recognize the underlying commonality among all individuals. This opens the doorway to reveal that the effects of our actions and decisions go beyond ourselves and can have global impact; perhaps even a positive one if one is aware of prevailing systems and current context. Really? you ask. Well... why else would global citizens not litter?

What amazes me is not the words that were said... I mean any kid who watches Sesame Street will tell you "don't waste water" or to "cover your nose when you sneeze" without much help from his prefrontal cortex... the amazing thing was that I knew this kid was not repeating something that he heard someone else say; he was independently applying learned principles, and on top of that

• voluntarily taking ownership of/becoming what he had heard
• taking the step from proclamation to purposeful action
  
• consciously identifying the principles that motivated him
  (i.e. not taking blind action or being brain-washed)
  
• committing himself to the principle of community reinforcement of shared values
  

On more than one occasion that summer, Legena sat down with me to pick my brain about "how the world worked." I spoke at length, but went away skeptical that anything I said could be made relevant far less converted into something enduring. However, I am glad that I 'accidentally' heard that simple sentence; because of it, I am a more global person today.