The World Really is Flat!
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The first paper I wrote in college was about Christopher Columbus who, in 1492, sailed the ocean blue. Many thought it was to prove the world was NOT flat, but it was just good old fashioned greed that caused King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella to send him. They were all convinced there was “gold in them that hills” and they needed the money to try to capture Jerusalem.
Well, as it turns out, the world is flat after all. According to Thomas Friedman and Michael Mandelbaum in That Used To Be Us, the advent of the internet and all the technology associated with it has leveled the playing field. “Flat World 1.0- from 1995 to 2005- made Boston and Bangalore next-door neighbors. Flat World 2.0 from 2005 to present is making Boston, Bangalore and Sirsi next-door neighbors.” Sirsi is a small agriculture community in rural India.
They make the distinction that “Flat World 1.0 was about producing goods and services, but Flat World 2.0 is about generating and sharing ideas on this platform.”
In other words, the world is our neighbor like never before. We are a global community because of technology and it challenges to us start thinking like global neighbors.
What does it look like to be a global neighbor? Let’s apply a few principles from our own neighborhood:
- We know each other
- I’d encourage you to find a friend from another country, another culture and get to know them and their family
- We help each other
- One of my favorite phrases in Kenya is “Today it’s me, and tomorrow it’s you.” That means I share with you today because tomorrow I might need you to share with me
- We take care of each other
- In my town are “Neighborhood Watch” signs. If some strange car parks in my neighbor’s drive when he’s not home, I go check it out. He does the same for me.
Never before, in the history of humanity, has the world been flat.
What does this mean to you and how do you see it affecting America, both good and/or bad?