Global Citizenship

A word in favour of contribution.

Whether or not you think in terms of your vision being global or local, designed to impact the lives of others or just your own, everything you do does impact globally, and does impact the lives of others.

I love the theory of the butterfly effect, which you can read more about here.   I like it for its scientific value as well as its more romantic value – it’s a great thing to play with when you’re an historical novelist.

The concept derives from the idea of the birth of a hurricane being contingent on whether or not a distant butterfly had flapped its wings several weeks before.  Or to put it another way, who would think that a butterfly flapping its wings here in Wellington might cause a stampede of cattle in Wyoming?  Who would think that the actions of one of us might tip the balance in favour of world peace?  Who would think even that the thoughts of one of us would tip that balance?  (And that latter question is actually a part of my novel – just sayin’.)

I’ve titled this blog post Global Citizenship for a number of reasons, and you might be wondering what this has to do with vision and purpose:

• My personal view (and I stress it’s my personal view, although I imagine one held by many reading this), is that I have a responsibility, by the very fact of my being on this planet, to consider what contribution I can make to its betterment.
• I can’t therefore separate my vision and purpose from my global citizenship.
• But further than that, I consider that tied to that responsibility is a twin responsibility to know and understand better the diversity of the world I live in, as well as to value it.
• And this raises the need for another level of awareness around our thinking and our thoughts, and the negative ones we have about the people around us; not least since any one of those can have the same impact as that butterfly flapping its wings.

Love Emerson as I do, I do think we have a purpose in being happy, but not only that.

So three questions to ponder – largely rhetorical:

• Did you know you impact the world so easily?
• So why would you not make sure you do that the best way you can?
• … … … By expanding your knowledge of the world around you, and
• … … … By reducing the negative thoughts you have of others.
• Because – actually – it may be why you’re here?

Sue xo

Tags: beliefs, butterfly effect, contribution, Emerson, global consciousness, negative thinking, peace, purpose, quotes, thinking, thoughts, vision