C.O.W. students are global citizens

As a new year begins at The College of Wooster, it is the perfect time for students to make new school year resolutions and establish goals for what they want to accomplish in a semester. From trying to work out five days a week, or cutting back on the amount of flex dollars they spend on coffee, students want to become better students for themselves and it is a staple mindset for a new school year.

However, in light of recent political and cultural issues, students at the College should also be striving to improve themselves in more ways that are relevant outside of college student life. This idea dawned on me during my first class on the first day of school.

My professor asked what it means to be a global citizen. After a few hesitant awkward pauses — the first day is always nerve-wracking — I raised my hand and explained my thoughts. I detailed that a global citizen is someone who is respectful and knowledgeable of all different cultures and places, aware that diversity is what influences and changes our world every day.

A global citizen is a person who is eager to learn about what exactly defines another person’s idea of home and embraces that diversity is integral to a free-flowing planet.

Picturing what a global citizen should look like, I realized that this is an idea that all students, especially at the College, should strive to work on.

A popular argument amongst particular hate groups is that people of different color and culture are trying to steal or alter what their idea of home should be in America. White supremacists believe they are defending their home — a place they believe only white people should own and thrive in — when they tear down other citizens emotionally and physically.

For white supremacists to feel threatened by people of other colors and cultures is indicative of their own ignorance of the fact that their home is not just America, it is this planet.

Everyone is a global citizen because everyone lives on this planet surrounded by diverse history, culture and beliefs. To restrict or build walls between such things is an idiotic misinterpretation of one’s own actual identity.

As students at the College, we need to educate others of the fact that everyone should be conscious that they are a global citizen and understand this place we live in is inherently and constantly shared.

In Wooster, we are a small campus created by people who are from all over the world and bring richness in their diversity; it is a pillar that Wooster would not be able to stand strong without. We need to celebrate this diversity and acknowledge our duties as global citizens. It’s the start of a new year and unfortunately the rise of a voice of hate in this country. To prevent that noise from gaining control over our own, we at the College must make our identity as global citizens speak in larger volumes than the hate and ignorance.

Sally Kershner, a Features Editor for the Voice, can be reached for comment at SKershner19@wooster.edu.