For me, being a global citizen is more of a mindset. It doesn’t mean I have the right to live anywhere I please—at least not yet. That would be practically impossible. This mindset is about being aware that all people form a global society, understanding global interconnections, and feeling a desire to protect planetary health.
Yes, it’s also about feelings. It’s about feeling empathy for the fates of people we’ve never seen and will probably never see. It’s about developing a broader cultural tolerance—at least for behaviors that don’t harm others—and finding joy in this diversity, as well as in natural diversity.
Migration is a hot-button issue in our time. Fundamentally, I wish that living conditions in many parts of the world would improve dramatically. That would also reduce the pressure to migrate. However, the climate crisis and poverty are casting an ever-longer shadow. For many, leaving their ancestral homeland will become the only option. In wealthy nations, we must learn a new approach to migration. Climate protection should also be given greater importance, because ultimately, it is also a form of self-protection.
As a global citizen, I engage with these and other issues. Nations are secondary; they change over the decades. Global citizenship is unlimited.
These organizations provide a broader picture of what it means to be a global citizen.
Before the Sun rises
Love is the real insight
I just have to see it
I’m rooted in the past
I can’t get rid of it
Everybody is in the maelstrom of life
It sucks me in and it spits me out again
I’m just a fragment of myself
Scattered all over the place
Emotion makes the impression
That’s where love comes in
We have a tendency towards madness
The sweet spot of being
“Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world; indeed, it’s the only thing that ever has.”
American cultural anthropologist Margaret Mead
