Global Citizenship.

Being a global citizen is about having an understanding of who you are in relation to the world. It is about trying to have an understanding for everything that is around you and being open to it. There is no ideal or perfect global citizen, no one can be aware of everything all the time and have the ability to make all of the right choices benefiting the world. Doing something though, is better than doing nothing. Locally, a global citizen will make their best effort to change their community for the better.

Looking at how musical practices can influence society will tell a good amount about the values a society holds. In America, people view making music as a talent, you are either born with it or not. In other countries there is no such thing of the idea of talent. Anyone at any level can participate in making music; it is encouraged and part of his or her daily lives. High-fidelity music is the most common in America, the main purpose of it is to make a product, which reflects the economic values we also hold. We try to turn everything into a product, selling it to make a profit. There are only transactions between buyer and seller, they each have a goal and they exchange services to achieve that goal. In countries where participatory music is most common, their economy is based more on the interactions taking place between buyer and seller. The exchanges are seen more as interactions rather than transactions.

Global citizenship is not always an easy thing to accomplish. In fact, it can be extremely difficult for people sometimes. Our whole lives we have been conditioned to think a certain way and believe that our way is the right way. When in reality, this is not the case. There are always many options and solutions to chose from, none being any better than the others. Having an open mind to new ideas is a big part of being a good engaged global citizen. Without an open mind people hinder themselves from having new experiences and creating new ways of doing things. Without an open mind, the world would have a hard time accepting change. It is important to ask questions when something is not understood to gain understanding, often people are apprehensive to new things and shut them off simply because they are different from their ideas. Ideas, however, are constantly changing. Accepting other cultures is a key aspect of being a global citizen as well, all cultures in the world share similar values, when everything is stripped we are all human. No one person can be any less or any more human than another. Yet, all over the world we dehumanize other cultures and think of them as being lesser simply because they do not live lives as advanced as ours. If we have been conditioned to think of a certain group of people as “dirty” or “violent” then we think of everyone similar to them as being the same. Their lives no longer matter to us, we do not think of them as having families, homes, and jobs. They become disposable. Working to humanize people of all cultures and races will encourage, if not friendships, then understanding between cultures.

In a local setting citizenship may still be attained. One person is not expected to make a difference for the entire world. Instead, one person can change a community. Paying attention to where the clothes and food we buy come from and attempting to make purchases that better help the locals can manifest global citizenship at a more concentrated level. Giving back to the community somehow, whether it is volunteering, being friendly, or participating in community wide events, can create small ripples that will generate waves. Supporting our communities is an excellent way to begin a path to global citizenship.

The responsibilities of a global citizen will vary from person to person. People do not all have the same values or goals or beliefs. The most important thing is seeing a problem in the world and helping find a solution to fix it.  Sometimes being a global citizen can be overwhelming, we begin to find more and more instances where we see a change that needs to be made and instead of focusing on just one change we begin to focus on too many at once. As a result of taking on too much we find that we are not getting anything done and have not contributed to being a global citizen. By limiting ourselves to only do so much, we increase our ability to get something accomplished. It is not about changing the entire world at once or all of our views of the world at once, starting small and expanding will allow more to be changed over time.

The first major step to becoming a global citizen is to value individuals. We need to learn to value the interactions individuals have on a daily bases. Learning to humanize people all over the world and caring about the impact our choices may have on other people, help us achieve common goals. This class taught me about the music other cultures are listening to, the ways in which they make music, and how it helps those communities function. I have also learned much more than that, I learned about the struggles these people go through, how they are similar and different from mine. Being a global citizen is about finding out who you are, not letting the media or anyone else influence all of your choices. It is about being yourself in relation to the world in the hopes of making it a better place for everyone to live.