Global Awareness
Do you remember the first time you ever saw a globe of the planet Earth; maybe even held one in your hands? How old were you?
I’m can’t remember for sure, but I was probably in grade school at the time. At least, I do remember having one in my room (at the end of my desk, right next to the jar of, er, newts).
I loved that globe because geography was a favorite school subject of mine; I could easily rattle off every US State and its capital. But more than that, I knew the names of almost every country and its capital, along with its location on the globe too. I’m tellin’ ya, I was good. (Alas, it’s something I certainly couldn’t do today!)
Have you ever really thought about just what exactly a globe represents? I’ll have to admit, I never have…
The World is a Really Big Place
Can you really grasp just how big the world is? I mean, as a kid, my world was really just a few miles across; pretty much the limits of where I could ride my bike. But think about it a minute here (sound of millions of gears grinding); that distance wasn’t even visible on the globe; the scale was just too small.
Even today, when the entire metro area of Houston, Texas is part of my stomping grounds (an area about 50 miles across), it barely shows up as a dot on the globe, and still many times too big. Now, I’ve been blessed with the opportunity to travel quite a bit, even to getting around to the other side of the world once. But still, flying above all that ocean only emphasizes just how little we ever get to know.
Looking at all those countries (and all that water), I can only barely begin to appreciate just how big this planet is, and more importantly, how much there is to see.
The World is a Really Small Place
Y’know, not that long ago maps used to have on them the phrase, Here Be Dragons. It’s amazing to realize that nowadays, what with the proliferation of satellite imagery, GPS locators, and whatnot, but barely 100 years ago there were still significant portions of the Earth that had not been well-mapped yet.
Today, we can hold the entire globe right in our own hands because, well, we know what it looks like now. Every island, no matter how lonely and isolated; every mountaintop, calibrated to the centimeter – it’s small enough now to know what’s there.
Not only that, but with modern travel options what they are these days, no part of the globe is really all that far away, in either time or effort. Quite a bit different from those days of yore when explorers really put their lives at risk just to see what was over the next mountaintop. These days, you have to really try to get off the beaten path.
Picture this with me: a child holding a globe, his right hand covers Africa while his left hand almost covers the Pacific Ocean. Seems to me the real message is: See all this? It’s closer than you think!
The World Always Changes
One thing I noticed even as a kid (and believe me, as a kid I noticed very little outside the world of, uh, meeeee) was the fact that some things on that globe we no longer correct. For instance, there was a brief period when African countries’ names were changing practically every week. If someone were to ask me, “Where’s so-and-so country,” well, I couldn’t find it.
I began to realize that just because it was there on the globe didn’t mean it was up to date. Things changed around the world, especially political entities like countries. Even ideologies changed every now and then (and sometimes changed back – just look at Russia over the last 25 years).
Change was OK, though – hey, it happens, even to things as big as countries.
The World Never Changes
But… one thing that never changed was the fact that there was still, you know, there. It didn’t much matter what you called it. For the most part, the nature of the people who lived there was still pretty much the same on the day before the change as it was on the day after. Rarely, if ever, did anything substantial really change.
And generally speaking, people are the same all over the world, too. I mean, I’ve been a lot of places and found that a smile is still a smile, whether in Taiwan, Canada or Scotland. Most folks still appreciate a good laugh every now and then; a warm handshake (or whatever the local custom happens to be) or a good tall tale.
Tell Me a Story
So what about you? What can a simple thing like a globe tell you about life, the universe, and everything? Any profound thoughts on the subject you’d care to share with us? (Or even something, er, not so profound; I won’t mind!)
11 responses so far
Middle Zone Musings is a comfortable place to stop, have a cup of coffee, swap a few stories and share practical ideas for the real world. I don't ask for much, just a bit of your brain every now and then. Have a seat, take a load off, and relax...
Bob,
I remember the globe in my room as a boy and then flying for the first time from Texas to Nashville, TN.
From the airplane, I looked down and realized there were no lines you could see dividing the states.
Same was emphasized when watching the Apollo 8 mission on TV (after watching the live takeoff from Cocoa Beach – Dad worked for a NASA contractor). There hung the globe in space with no lines on it, just a lot of clouds, sea and land masses.
So who put the lines on my globe, decided where the lines go and painted countries unnatural colors?
-Sam
Howdy, Sam! Actually, I was just reading about that in the book, The Once and Future King. Merlin the magician gave young King Arthur the ability to change into various animals for a day each. He tried an ant, a bear, etc., but when he became a goose, he could fly freely and see the world from high up. While up there, he noticed that there were no country boundaries on the REAL earth, only political boundaries drawn by men.
Interestingly profound observation, in my opinion. One can really make many different lessons from it, depending on one’s point of view – but I think the observation is pretty profound all by itself.
What I can recall was during school time in the lab we used to have a globe in the middle of the classroom where we would always point our fingers to the place we would like to go, little did we know that it was like thousands of miles away from our location. Nevertheless, it has been a wonderful experience and knowing that the world is really big and whoever has the time and opportunity to go around the world is the luckiest on Earth..
However, global awareness, is not something that everyone cares of. In fact, I don’t think that people would spend time to read on what is happening to the world, they would be reading which celebrity marries with who or which celebrity got the biggest wedding ring..
I’m afraid you’re right, Rakeback. Too many folks care about things that really don’t matter. Thanks for dropping by!
I had a globe in my room from a young age, and my Aunt had several huge maps in her laundry room. We would look and find the different places our family members lived or were visiting.
We lived in Houston, but Mom’s family was on PEI, Canada. We flew frequently from a young age so I never had that lightbulb moment of realizing that the lines weren’t on the globe. I did have one weird idea.
People would ask Dad why we flew instead of driving to PEI. Dad’s stock response was it wasn’t possible to drive up to the island. What he meant was he wasn’t driving across two countries to wait in line for days for the ferry to the Island – while dealing with two kids in the back seat.
Since you had to fly Up to the Island and fly Down to Houston – I got this idea in my head that Canada was above the US – like stories on a house. Planes were like elevators. I thought the globe was a model tillted sideways.
Years later we were talking about Kid Logic – and I mentioned this. Sis laughed and said she had the same idea as a kid.
I’m now the aunt. I have maps hanging in my laundry room – with markers for relatives that live far away and internet friends, bloggers (If I know their location)
I had a 3rd grader come in my lab all excited the other day. He had to show me google maps and how you could switch between a “drawing” and “real pictures”. He loved street view and explained that way you can look for buildings and stuff on corners so you know when to turn because street signs are small and get stolen.
That makes sense in a kid sort of way, Kimberly – Canada on the next floor up! Hey, I have no idea where PEI is, but mark me down for Tomball!
Thanks for stopping by the Zone, Kimberly – come back soon!
I don’t think I’ve any profound reflections, but I had to stop by and say how much I enjoyed reading this!
I think the globe gives us a great sense of possibility – all those places we can go – and connectedness – keep on spinning it and you’ll get back to where you are
And when we do travel… well I love the way it shifts and plays with our sense of perspective. I remember climbing a hill in southern Mexico and looking out at a vast landscape and an enormous sky. We seemed to be kings of everything we could see. And yet what I could see was just one parish of a district of a state… and even spending 3 months there I didn’t get to travel from one end of that state to another. Inspiring and humbling at the same time. I love it! (Note to self: maybe it’s time for some more travel…)
Joanna
As always, it’s great to have you drop by, Joanna! Your reflection reminds me of similar thoughts – always happens if you “step back” far enough to see the bigger picture. (Note to Joanna: yes, you SHOULD travel more! Trust me on this!)
Glad to be here Robert. As we discussed about the world, the world itself is changing and I do wish that everyone can make a difference, can help to make a positive change to the world. I really enjoy your blog and your ideas and thoughts really got me thinking all sorts of things that are happening..
Thanks for your kind words, Rakeback. Yes, we can make a difference, no matter how small it may seem. Glad to know the ol’ gray cells are tickin’ over there, friend!
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