| Global Awareness |
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| Thursday, 28 August 2008 13:09 | |
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If there were ever an event which focuses on global awareness, it is the Olympic Games. Morgan Freeman put it well, when he said about the 2008 Olympics, There are 6 billion of us. We all come from unique places with unique ways of looking at the world. We don’t always agree, but for a few shining weeks, we set it all aside. We come together to stand and cheer and celebrate as one. We forget all the things that make us different and remember all the things that make us the same.¹ The 2008 Olympics once again brought to our attention that we are a planet of human beings, people of different races, creeds and cultures, sons and daughters of our Heavenly Father. During the ceremonies and sports events, thoughts of peace and harmony emerge for the world because at the Olympics nations are not divided by vindictiveness, violence or war but through healthy competition in sports. Our modern world is characterized by “an ever more mature awareness” on the part of nations, “on the part of different organizations of civil society of the new tasks to which they are called on a worldwide level.” (Compendium of the Social Doctrine of the Church , [CSDC], # 366). Global awareness is thus a very broad subject, much too broad to be fully addressed within a couple of pages. It is, nevertheless, a subject very worthy of discussion. Global awareness summons us to action. It provides opportunities for involvement to engage in justice and peacebuilding. It calls us to focus on the human community to bring about a more humane world. We need to acquire an adequate knowledge of not only our own country but of all nations, their cultures, languages, climates, religions, etc. This knowledge will help us to discover better ways to respect the dignity of the human person. It also opens up a dialogue among nations, to engage in just and peaceful relationships. Interaction in this manner will help us to discover the beauty and goodness of each nation as well as those elements which can benefit greatly from Gospel principles. One definition of globalization given is the “expanding scale, growing magnitude, speeding up and deepening impact of transcontinental flows and patters of social interaction. It refers to a shift that links distant communities and expands the reach of power relationships across the world’s regions and continents.”² Globalization encompasses interactions among peoples and nations in various dimensions: economic, political, cultural, individual, social, religious, educational. Each is an expression of human activity within the world. Globalization is able to “produce potentially beneficial effects for the whole of humanity” and is capable of offering “new hopes while at the same time it poses troubling questions.” (CSDC, #361) In Catholic Social Teaching, the basis for each global activity must always hinge on the dignity, value and worth of each human being as created in the image and likeness of God . All international relations and decisions must have this principle as their fundamental premise. Global activities must, therefore, be implemented for the common good of the whole of humanity, not just for the good of powerful and wealthy groups and nations, which results in the marginalization of huge populations of persons who have no voice and are disregarded in the proper human development. Every economic activity e.g. must be “judged in light of whether it protects or undermines the dignity of the human person.” (Economic Justice for All , [EJA], #12) Indeed, every human being has a right to minimally participate in all the dimensions of national and global activity. The word catholic means universal . As a universal (Catholic) Christian Community we encompass members from every race and nation. It is thus our duty to maintain a global awareness in the affairs of the world. It is an integral part of the gospel message to be witnesses of Christ in the world, to transform the world into the image and likeness of Jesus. Indeed, men and women are “members of the same human family, they are indissolubly linked with one another in the one destiny of the whole world, in the responsibility for which they share.”³ We therefore are all called to be in solidarity with one another to bring about a unified world society grounded in hope, respect and love for all in ways that are built on the cornerstone of Christ. May the Sacred Heart of Jesus be loved everywhere! Brother Warren Perrotto, MSC August 28, 2008 Sources:
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