Global Issues Essay Topic 3: Characteristics of a global citizen

Nowadays, you can often hear a word 'globalization' in various mass media. Do you know how a word 'globalization' can thrive all over the world? Development of communication tools and transportations let world's people share their thinking easily. As a result, the world has become smaller and smaller and become one in the end. (It never means real borders among nations are removed. It means there are no problems to communicate with one another and people feel sense of belonging in the world.) We call this phenomenon 'globalization'. However, although we live in era of globalization, all of us are not global citizen. There are characteristics that are needed for us to become for global citizen; fluent English ability, understanding various cultures and awareness of global problems.

Firstly, global citizens need to have fluent English ability. Indeed, English is the greatest language in the world. There is no language as strong as English. The number of people using English in the world is over 4 hundred million and the number will increase as time goes by. In this situation, even person from non-English country have to use English to communicate with other foreigners. Another purpose of having fluent English ability is to get much information. In era of globalization, knowledge is power. For example, one of causes to bring 'globalization' in the world is developing of Internet. Much information in the Internet is written in English. For example, portal sites like Google have enormous information written in English. To use this information efficiently, we need to learn English and improve our ability.

Secondly, understanding various cultures is a virtue of global citizens. Some people may look down on other cultures. However, anyone doesn’t be granted to blame other cultures. There is no superiority or inferiority among cultures. There are only differences among cultures. In fact, there are some tribes that don't know what electricity is, what Internet is. But, they have built their own cultures for a long time. Every culture has unique value and attraction. Therefore, global citizens have to understand other culture, even regarded as uncivilized. (Of course, it never means we have to understand customs like eating a man.) Cultures regarded as uncivilized have lessons that we can learn human's wisdom. For instance, foreigners who visited Korea in era of Joseon may have thought Korea had undeveloped culture. But, nowadays, Korean historical remains like Bulguksa are appointed UNESCO world heritages and foreigners know excellence of Korean culture. What we think inferior to our culture today can be great in the future.

Thirdly, global citizens have to know global problems. Today, the world becomes one society and people in the world feel sense of belonging one group. But, even today, problems like hunger, exhaustion of natural resources and pollution are occurred all parts of the world. What does 'globalization' mean? It means world become one village and all people become one race. If we really live in era of 'globalization', we have to care about same race. However, people in the world don't try to think about other people, though there are many people having trouble of just living. Just living can be burden to the third countries. Do we try to help those people? Global citizen may feel a responsibility to help them. Problems like hunger, exhaustion of natural resources and pollution are world problem, not limited by one nation. We must solve this problem together. It's genuine virtue of global citizens.

To sum up, there are three characteristic of global citizens. Those are fluent English ability, understanding various cultures and awareness of global problem. Living in globalized society is not an easy work. Range that we concerned about must be expanded from my home country to the world. If we have these characteristics, this work will be easier than before. Also, if we are qualified for global citizens, this will be the way all of people in the world can win in this era. (Winning doesn’t always mean defeating other people.) Competition between people, cities or nations can be relieved through these characteristics. So, we must try to have these characteristic to win in the future.

Have you heard or watched the latest news from around the world? Killings, bombings, tremendous weather and other unusual happenings that destroys not only people but also the environment. Sometimes it's unbelievable and it makes you feel worried and horrified. But have you ever wonder and ask yourself why do all of this things happened? There is just a simple answer. It's because of the people himself. People tends to be self-centered. What they want is what they get. No matter if there are other persons or dangers that involves. So how can people change that kind of attitude? Is thinking globally can be a big help? Just imagine that you became a global citizen. So what are the important characteristics to be a global citizen? To make the story short, these are concern for peace, love of nature and respect for other people.

First and foremost is concern for peace. Wow, what a big word! Everybody wants a peace of mind. But the painful thing is some people have a different perception on what's the real meaning of peace. Their principle in life can be considered as contrasting with the beliefs of normal people. Think of those terrorists from different countries who don't mind to kill not only one but more people. And if you will ask them why they're doing that you will realized that their beliefs are obviously different. The saddest thing is they will fight for that belief even if their own lives are at stake. But in a simple way, how can people show their concern for peace? Is having your own peace of mind will do a share? How about love for other people as the way you love yourself? Maybe if people learn to love and care for others as the way he/she loves himself, it will somehow break one of the global problems concerning peace.

Second is to be a global citizen the love of nature is another essential characteristic. It's very easy to say "I love nature" but in reality it's hard to do. Perhaps the more appropriate answer is "I love nature but I really don't care for it". You don't need to go far but just take a look around your surroundings. People still don't know the consequences of improper disposal of garbage. Calamities caused by overflooding, unpredictable weather conditions. People pays for whay they've done. The problem is not only themselves but also even the mother nature is being destroyed. Also take a look of those rich mountains. There are people who became greedy and took advantage of what nature can give them. Another one is pollution coming from factories and also overcrowded vehicles. But still people don't want to give up that if there's pollution there's also a solution. High technology promises the nature that it can take care of the consequences. The question is when will people realized the true meaning of responsibility? Because if people understand the meaning of responsibility, the beauty of nature will remain as it is.

Finally and can be considered as the summary of the characteristics mentioned above is respect for other people. It is very important to think of not only for one's own sake but ofcourse for others too. Of all the consequences and calamities that people are facing nowadays, the big contribution comes from the people himself. If people have the characteristic of being broad minded, he/she would first consider the importance of people that surrounds him. If people respect someone, he/she should avoid doing things that would affect and destroy others. Just imagine if you refused to have illegal disposal of garbage because you know that it will affect the nature and can also cause pollution. You became satisfied with just looking at the beauty of nature and prevent yourself and others to touch and destroy them. And most important is you don't want to hurt people because you care for their life as well as you your own too.

As a conclusion, all of the important characteristics to be a global citizen like concern for peace, love of nature and respect for others can really be a big help to solve global problems and crisis. It you will take a closer look, being a global citizen is really a big responsibility but at the same it's a must for everybody. If people will not realize as early as possible what are the solutions for these global issues it will come to a point that it's already too late. Working together and take more efforts to discipline themselves will be the best key for what people aims for. As what the song "Heal the world" says, there'a a place in your heart and I know that it is love. Make the world a better place for you and for me and the entire universe.

Nowadays, globalization is not a strange word. Because of the globalizaton, the world is getting smaller and smaller, and thanks to the internet and international trade, you can enjoy other countrie`s culture and customs. Also, you have a higher chance to meet people with diverse countries and background. So, as a `global citizen`, people have some charicteristics. They are; Understanding culture of other countries, Good English skills, Ability to find a correct information.

Firstly, I want to introduce is `Understanding culture of other countries`. As world is getting smaller, people have more chance to contact other culture or customs. So, they obtain ability to understand other manner or culture when they have chance to travel other country or even other region. For instance, suppose they are visiting other country for business. If they don`t follow that country`s manner, he/she can`t be successful in contracting with that country`s business person. The reason is that the business person can be thinking of you to very rude and impolite. So, they has become to adopt culture of other countries.

Second thing I want to emphasize is 'Good English skill'. Good English skill is essential because many people use English as official language. Official language is tool which is used as major language when they communicate with foreigner. If you want to ask some place in the Japan , you can do that by using English. If you want to buy hamburger in China, you can do that by using English. You don`t have to learn all of these language(Of course if you can, it would be great!). So, you can say that English skill is one of the most important characteristics to be a `global citizen`.

Finally, I believe important characteristic is `Ability to find a corrct information. Globalization makes you get more information than before. Through internet, you can get overwhelming amount of information, and These information contain lots of incorrct and useless truth. So, the ability to discriminate right and false becomes very important for a `global citizen`.

So far, I have introduced characteristics of a `global citizen`. World is changing consistently and you may need more skills or endeavor to adjust that changes. You may need to know some country`s culture which you didn`t know before to accomplish important contract. You may also need more correct information to start new business. So, you should pay attention to adjust to globalization and find out what world want.

Aristotle, the great philosopher in the ancient Greece, said that a human being is a social(political) animal. His saying means people are existences for not only living together, but also pursuing to construct the desirable society for each person's self-realization, that's why all people in the society have to make efforts to accomplish the moral society. So, what are the duty and characteristics of "good citizen" for a healthy society or country like this? Maybe, it can be said that those are responsibility, dedication, spontaneity, consideration and so on. As you know, our living places are wider and wider due to the development of the information and communication technology. That is to say, a concept of "citizen" excels social citizen or national people and comes to mean, so called, "global" citizen. Then, what are the characteristics of a "global citizen"? Obviously, they can involve the duty and characteristics for the social citizen above, but, among them, how can the "key" characteristics of a global citizen be described? They can include having concern about and interest in the world issues; sympathizing with and feeling the people's emotions in other countries'; and putting into practice.

What do you think is the first way of loving others? It can be said that we are interested in the neighbors' news. In other words, the way of taking care of the neighbors starts to have concern about their lives - 'How do they live?', 'What are they doing?', and 'Is there anything wrong concerning them?' etc. Likewise, as we want to be global citizen, we are supposed to know people's situation and problems they face in other countries. For that, we can see and read the (global) accidents and can hear of the news as watching the TV or using internet, not using the computer for playing a game or web-surfing for interesting and funny things or buying something nice and pretty. And we need to have lots of knowledge about other countries' information such as tradition, history, culture, geopolitical condition, even point of view of the world and so forth. Because understanding each other well (to be a global citizen) depends on "knowing" many things and matters relevant to each country. In addition, We have to pay more attention to "recent" global issues about environment, human right, labor, democracy, peace and so on, as all of us live in the same age, that is, we are the contemporaries.

Secondly, if you always struggle to search global issues and have lots of knowledge about all of the world, do you think you become "true" global citizen? But, if you don't sympathize with and feel people's emotions in other nations, the knowledge which you have known is not meaningful and useful thing, in addition, you are not "real" global citizen. For example, have you ever heard or seen the global disasters or problems such as the difficulty of obtaining food in North Korea and the people's death by the starvation in Africa? What did you think and feel about those while watching the TV? Those are not related with us? Because we are not in those place and situation? However, if you are a sincere global citizen, you have to regard the (global) disasters as the serious matter related with you and your nation, as if we suffered from those. Namely, we need to have "empathy" which is the ability to share another person's feelings and emotions as if they were your own.

Lastly, in a sense, it is the most important to put your knowledge and sympathy into action. No matter how you click many global issues and have lots of knowledge, or you feel how painful they are owing to those disasters or problems, if you do not take an action for helping others in the world, you are not "real" global citizen. Surely, everybody knows this maxim about the importance of practice and exercise, but, actually, it is difficult to fulfill helping sufferers in the globe, even people usually don't know what to do, how to do and how to start to do that. However, if you change your thought and will a little, it can be easy to be global citizen than you may think. Let's look into the example. Do you remember the seismic wave in Indonesia and St. Sichuan Earthquake in China? How could we help them at that time? Of course, we could help the sufferers by going and serving as a volunteer directly. But, it can be also the way of helping them through sending mails to encourage them. Moreover, do you remember we dialed the number for help by ARS call? Though it was "trivial" money, it might be a kind of "tremendous" help for them, as the saying "many hands make light work". Or, if you are more positive and active person, you also can appeal for helping others in pain all over the world by using the communication technology like the internet. Like these, we have to be willing to do and act for other people as (we are) a global citizen.

No human being doesn't live alone. So, they made a society for their happy and safe lives. But, now, as the border of society is wider and wider, and more ambiguous, we are required to change the social citizen to, so called, "global citizen", that maybe seems to be the inevitable condition and trend by the progress and development of the information and communication technology. So, we should make the world more peaceful and have to live for "each other"'s happiness and wellbeing all the world over. That's why we have to be a desirable global citizen. For that, we need to have 3 key characteristics of being "good" global citizen as we examined above, that is, we all have to concern about and interest in other global people's lives beyond the limit or the (national) boundary of each country, and we should have a mind that is similar to other's emotion (especially about the pain) and sympathize other's problems and sadness. And, ultimately, we must put our will and our love for the global people into practice, not just listening to their news or reading global issues and just feeling other's emotion. If we meet these characteristics, - we are no longer "strong nationalist" who is the person maintaining the excellence of one's country - we are "true global citizen" with open-mind and recognizing other countries heartily and understanding symbiotic relationship. Now, let's make an effort together to become a "sincere global citizen".

What do you think are the key characteristics of a “global citizen”?

When I was in middle school, I was taught to use Korean goods. Have you ever heard “SINTOBURI”? It means that Korean farm products are the best. That is, we should use only Korean goods. But it was forgotten and is hard to imagine them now. These days, Scientific technology is getting better very fast so traffic means are becoming various and their speed is so fast. Also as using Internet is regarded a common thing, One country is getting to contact other countries easily. This brings us an aspect of global citizen as a new attitude that needs us to adjust to new ages and live together in the world. We should make efforts to become a global citizen. So then, what is its feature? There are three characteristics of a global citizen. They are admitting other own countries, concerning about international problems and participating.

First of all, global citizen should live together sharing cultures, customs, food, sports, knowledge and so on, one another. We can’t live alone in the world. If we live along, humankind will disappear in our world. Global citizen admit their own countries. So they can interact and develop together.

Secondly, it is demanded to concern about international problems such as an environment, human rights, war and refugee problems and so on. Global citizen look at not only domestic problems but also outside ones. A few days ago, my teacher whose education class is taken in this semester said that we might allow killing millions of children indirectly. It was very shocking to us. And she said again if you contributed money at least 10,000won for children who were suffering from starvation, you saved millions of children. This shows how to be important as taking an attitude of a global citizen concerning about world problem in global age.

Last he or she not only concerns international problem but also participates in global society. There are a lot of activities such as donations, campaign, NGO and volunteering. Through that activity, we can feel we are the one and change the world. Also you can stimulate people to concern about global issues. So we live together without concern. It’s a duty of global citizen.

In conclusion, we can't live alone in the world. So we should become a global citizen and need to have its characteristics. We should admit others countries and always concern about global society issues such as war, human rights, environment and so on. Also we have to participate in them. A lot of children are dying as a result of hunger today. In this time, our concerns should be turned into them.

Do you know what "the tower of Hanoi" is? It is a game that players pile up different sizes of boards. An ethicist, Peter Singer, used it to say something - the world ethic. In the tower of Hanoi, as you go up, you could see ethics for limited neighbors. And as you go down, there are ethics for many other things. Among these, Singer wanted to mention "the world ethic", which is on the lowest floor of the tower. It says that we must consider all of beings in the world, even including nonliving things. Many people think globalization is just opening of interchanging their own culture. But it's not. We must think us as a global citizen. Diffently from national citizen, there are some characteristics of global citizens. I want to say the most important three things.

Firstly, maybe the most important thing is communication skills. If the world become unified, as one country, you could meet many people from many other countries. And even nowadays, you have many chances to meet and work with them. It is essential to understand their words and speak out something exactly. Then, not only in business situation but also in daily life, you feel that you need to know other languages. Of course, there are too many languages to learn all of them. But, I think, you should communicate in at least in English. In many official meetings, English is commonly used. And in other countries, there are many signs written in English for tourists. Also it will be helpful for you to learn many second languages not just only English.

You could see many other countries have their own culture and customs. And in the world, you could know each of people has different way of thinking. Also, many different lifestyles are existing. First when our ancestors met Western people, they could not understand all of them, because it was too differnt from our culture. We know, it's so hard to understand other's life styles or other thigns. But it's not only for us. Other people feel as same way. For real globalization, you should think humankind as our family. Namely, you need a sense of solidarity and the spirit of tolerance. Without understanding or recognizing diffences, you can not be a "global citizen". You should not think other countries' people as second-class citizens. Have you ever heard there are discrimination in one family? Despising others is old-fashioned idea.

Last thing that I want to say is for the religious world. As you know, there are many kinds of religions; the Christian, Buddhism, Catholicism and so on. Most of these are related to their countries' customs or worship ceremonies. As I mentioned above, each is very different from others. And most of religions' believers don't like other religions' believers. But as a global citizen, it is not right. Above of all, still there are many wars that kill each other. And most of them are because of diffence of religions. The world would get into chaos. So, what I want to mention is, even in religion, people should have a chance to stand other's side, and though you think others are incorrect, don't evaluate them badly. You are not always correct.

Until now, we see the key characteristics of a "global citizen". I chose three things.(There are also other things.) First thing is communication skills, and then recognizing global people as your family. And the last thing is compromise with other religion's people, that is to say, peace in religions. If we want to see more developed world, we must be concerned about everywhere in the world. Sometimes, we just think and consider worldwide problems in developed countries' point of view. But there are some countries to be given some help to develop together. And in addition to these, I want to tell this world is not just for humankind. It is our ideal to realize the coexistence with all living things and nonliving things in mutual prosperity.

In a few decades, world have been changed a lot by development of communications and transportations. As a result, It's common for us to meet people from another country. In a word, the earth become one. As we live in a globalzed world, we can say that we are global citizens. Still, we have some barriers to live in this world as a global citizen. Those are problems related with cultural difference. Each country has their own culture and this sometimes causes troubles from misunderstanding other's behavior to race discrimination. To avoid this, we should know what characteristics are demanded to be a good global citizen.

The first characteristic of a global citizen is being open-minded. There exists cultural difference among countries and a global citizen have to be open-minded to understand and accept the difference. Being open-minded is helpful to learn cultures or customs of other countries and it includes not evaluating other cultures or customs. For example, some people maybe think Indians' eating habit is dirty and primitive because they eat with their hands, without using spoons, forks or knives. But, on the contrast, Indians maybe consider our eating habit as dirty and unnatural one because we use a spoon which have been used by other people. In this point of view, the eating habit of Indians is just another way of life. It's not a matter of superiority or inferiority. From this, we can infer that the culture is relative. Conclusively, to cope with problems caused by cultural difference, we need to be open-minded which enables us to understand and accept it.

The second characteristic required to be a global citizen is knowing well our own culture. A global citizen is kind of a mediator of culture in terms of exchanging culture. We can deliver our culture to people from other country and also, we can receive other cultures. However, before that, we have to know our own culture well. Understanding ours such as aspects, features and characteristics of our culture gives us opportunity to let foreign people know our culture. For instance, a person who have not been interested in Korea can turn out to be interested in it by meeting a Korean who is good at Korean songs. Also, To have a good understand of our culture is basis of understanding and respecting other cultures. Because while learning our culture, naturally we become have respect for ours and this esteem can be connected with respect for other cultures.

Last characteristic of a global citizen is having a good attitude toward other people like smiling brightly, concerning, being kind, apologizing and making a concession. It is true that every country has different culture and this sometimes cause trobles and disharmony. Although we are in that situation, we have at least one thing in common. It is the fact that we are human. So it is natural for us to mean well to a person who has a good attitude. To illustrate, though we don't know how to act politely in a certain country, if we ask someone how to do something properly with a smile, courteously, the person will teach us willingly. Therefore, being in a good manner is important characteristic of a global citizen.

To sum up, three key characteristics of a global citizen are being open-minded to take care of cultural difference, knowing well our own culture as a mediator of culture and having a good attitude toward people. I think diversity is beyond price. Because diversity makes improvement possible. So globalization which enables us to experience diversity of culture is precious opportunity to grow our quality of life. Accordingly, we should be a competent global citizen who can adapt to the globalized world by applying those characteristics mentioned above.

Do you know what “global citizen” means? Citizen means the people who belong to one nation and global means whole world. So the word “global citizen” means the people who belong to whole world. But can he or she be global citizen just because he or she lives in this world? The answer is surely no. There are some key characteristics that people should have to be global citizen. Those are diversity, openness and sympathy.

First of all, global citizen should have diversity. Nowadays, world become unified more and more and local traits are vanishing. Because of comfort, people destroy custom environments and pursuit industrialization. As the surroundings become similar, people end up to losing their own personality. And development of media makes people think in same way and follow trends not their own style. But to be global citizen, people should have their own personality and thinking. Without diversity, there can’t be differences and conflicts. Without differences and conflicts, there can’t be development. Diversity is the precondition to make people think, discuss and come up with better ideas.

Secondly, openness is also important. People should be open-minded. Without openness, diversity would be followed by just conflict not by discussion and better ideas. Global citizen accept other culture and customs as different not wrong. For example, they don’t say “Eating dogs is wrong and bad” but “Eating dogs is their own culture. It’s not wrong, but different.” But being open-minded is hard because everybody have their own backgrounds, circumstances and belief. There are so many differences. I said diversity is important above, but without openness, it just leads to more troubles.

Last but not least, global citizen should have sympathy. It means they care about other people who live in other parts of the world. They care about the problems of world and participate in resolving problems. And they help people who were given less opportunities and worse surroundings. Because they know that’s fair. People who don’t care about war or starvation in other part of the world are not qualified to be global citizen.

The world is globalized more and more as time goes by. Everyday we hear news about things happen in other parts of the world where we have never been and barely know. Someday, when globalization spreads all over the world and there may be no nation boundary. Just one big nation, the world. Then we would call ourselves as global citizen. However, we have no right to call ourselves that. We should be qualified. With diversity, openness and sympathy, we finally can be global citizen.

Todays, there exist many kinds of problems in the world that worldwide people are suffering at the same time such as nuclear weapons, environmental problems and the gap between rich and poor. These problems cannot be solved by a nation that is based on its particular territory and people. So some citizens perceive these kinds of global situations voluntarily and begin to take an active part in the world beyond their nations. These kinds of people, so-called "global citizens", have three key characteristics ; having a great interest in all global issues, taking an active part in solving problems and having a broad-mind. I'd like to go into these three characteristics in detail.

First of all, global citizens have much interest in not only regional problems but also global issues. They always have alert and bright eyes, and give close attention to a variety of growing problems like a famine of the poor countries, economic crisis, global warming and so on. They think that they are members of the world beyond their countries. So they weigh on global issues more than their own matters. And they take much efforts to know about the situations and changes of the world via various mass media such as TV programs, newspapers, radio, Internet and so on.

Secondly, they willingly take an active part in solving global problems. They are not passive citizens just watching news programs, reading newspapers or listening to a radio. They give out their opinions with confidence and voluntarily take part in settling down the worldwide problems such as by joining non-government organization(NGO) or individually. By doing these, they interact with many global citizens and find the way to solve problems. Also, to give an example, they personally visit the poor countries where people are struggling with the poverty to give their helping hands.

Lastly, the third characteristic of global citizen is that they have a broad mind. They are broad-minded people toward the world in that they try to consider and understand the other countries' culture. They respect traditions and characteristics of other countries'. And they admit "difference" between cultures and race, not "discrimination". They embrace other's, even if those are different from theirs. They place an importance on the value of peace, equality, reconciliation, and cooperation.

To sum up, I think, the key characteristics of a "global citizen" are paying close attention to the world issues, taking an active part in solving problems and having a broad mind. There would be, of course, more another characteristics needed to global citizens. As our world become globalized, it is getting more important for people to live as a global citizen. As a citizen of the world, most importantly, we have to cultivate wide understanding on the culture of the world and comprehensive knowledge to be a world citizen. And then, we can understand global issues and break through problems all together.

Have you ever watched the TV commercial which says; when there was no car we just dreamed inside of our country, however now our dream goes through all over the world? It reminds me of the term 'global village'. The more improved the media and transportation have become, the smaller the world has been. While there are some countries which have an ability to appeal their power in the international relations, there are also countries that could not speak up their voice loudly yet. Nevertheless this situation, no one could delay the pace of globalization and deny it. However the important thing is all of us have to be ready for the globalization. There are some characteristics to be required to global citizen; knowing oneself, having open-mind and thinking widely.

Above all things, one should know and comprehend oneself as completely as possible. Globalization is the progress of stepping forward with others; to be specific one country to another. It is pretty required to know oneself before attempt to understanding others. In the Eastern history, people regarded history as a mirror. They thought without the knowledge of what ancestors did and what occurred before, they could not perform the current thing well. Also they used past history as the tool to distinguish between right and wrong which happened right then. Besides they got some information from it. In other words, history was a teacher to them. We can find a similar example in the Western history, too. The prominent historian E.H.Carr also explained the history as 'an unending dialogue between the present and the past.' Are these examples confused or do you think these are quite old to apply to the present? Then, just think about the diary. Keeping diary means reconsidering oneself and it helps you not to commit the same mistake that you made in your future. Therefore, to comprehend oneself is the basis to take a step forward and come up with the globalization.

The second thing is having open-mind. Around us, there are so many differences such as race, religion and gender. Through the history from long ago to today, there have been lots of trouble including suppression and revolution. As you know, even in the modern society, those things occurred. The whites thought they were the best and the other races, colored races were inferior to them. Therefore they had an attempt to occupy the prominent positions. Also they exploited many blacks as their slaves. On the other hand, there was limitation in many societies which make women taken far from the politics, education and so on. Men stole women's right. Till nowadays women have strived to attain the right to vote and participate in enacting policies. Religion is another example. There are many kinds of religion. Even though lots of democratic countries guarantee one has right to have freedom of faith, the problem caused between different faith has not finished yet. In the world, there are many diverse things except remarked things that we have to accept with open-mind. Also there are no superior person to others. We could not evaluate and compare one's or a thing's value. When we accept the diversity in the world, then it could contains the sincere meaning of 'global'.

Finally, we should think widely. There are at least six billion people on the earth. Even though we live in the small area, we have to expand our thought. Have you heard the Korean saying 'a frog in the well'? This has the same meaning with 'a man with limited scope'. They mean that a man who doesn't know about the outside of where he lives. As I mentioned, there are at least six billion people and the world is tremendously big. To make it easy to understand, Russia is about 171 times as big as Korea. Some arrogant people boast themselves and think they are the best in Korea. However what if they once go outside of Korea? There are so many people who has better ability than him. Also there are lots of things that they have never heard, seen or experienced. Shortly, the world is infinite. It's not the end that you could see easily. As you know, beyond the horizon or surface there always exists new land. Therefore to be a sincere citizen in the era of globalization, one has to think widely and vastly.

In a few decades the pace of globalization has been accelerated. Also the world would be same as one country even though there are lots of nationalities. The saying, 'the world gets smaller and the boundaries disappears fast' is quite true. We should catch up with the globalization and be parallel with it. We found out some characteristics which are required to global citizen. This including realizing oneself, overcoming the differences and having wide view. Leaving them, there are also quite a lot of characteristics to be demanded such as flexibility, independence, progressive and so on. Those are all useful items to be a part of the world. Whatever you prioritize, you ought to prepare for the complete globalization. Then with these things, you could be a good global citizen.

Hi, Jihye!
Good morning! I read your essay with interest. I think your essay is well organized and convey what you want to say clearly. Especially, I like your way you write your introduction. It's enough to attract reader's interest. Also, I find your opinion is similar to mine. I agree your opinion totally. However, I think third and fourth paragraph are so similar in a point of context. I think religion is included in culture. If you came up with other reasons, your essay would be better than now. (I'm not blame your essay. It's just my opinion.) And I find there are some mistakes in your essay. There are misspelling words and ungramartical sentences. I know you are a competent person. So I think there is no mistake in your next essay.
You did a good job. I'm expecting your next essay.
Have a nice day! :-)

Do you know what "the tower of Hanoi" is? It is a game that players pile up different sizes of boards. An ethicist, Peter Singer, used it to say something - the world ethic. In the tower of Hanoi, as you go up, you could see ethics for limited neighbors. And as you go down, there are ethics for many other things. Among these, Singer wanted to mention "the world ethic", which is on the lowest floor of the tower. It says that we must consider all of beings in the world, even including nonliving things. Many people think globalization is just opening of interchanging their own culture. But it's not. We must think us as a global citizen. Diffently from national citizen, there are some characteristics of global citizens. I want to say the most important three things.

Firstly, maybe the most important thing is communication skills. If the world become unified, as one country, you could meet many people from many other countries. And even nowadays, you have many chances to meet and work with them. It is essential to understand their words and speak out something exactly. Then, not only in business situation but also in daily life, you feel that you need to know other languages. Of course, there are too many languages to learn all of them. But, I think, you should communicate in at least in English. In many official meetings, English is commonly used. And in other countries, there are many signs written in English for tourists. Also it will be helpful for you to learn many second languages not just only English.

You could see many other countries have their own culture and customs. And in the world, you could know each of people has different way of thinking. Also, many different lifestyles are existing. First when our ancestors met Western people, they could not understand all of them, because it was too differnt from our culture. We know, it's so hard to understand other's life styles or other thigns. But it's not only for us. Other people feel as same way. For real globalization, you should think humankind as our family. Namely, you need a sense of solidarity and the spirit of tolerance. Without understanding or recognizing diffences, you can not be a "global citizen". You should not think other countries' people as second-class citizens. Have you ever heard there are discrimination in one family? Despising others is old-fashioned idea.

Last thing that I want to say is for the religious world. As you know, there are many kinds of religions; the Christian, Buddhism, Catholicism and so on. Most of these are related to their countries' customs or worship ceremonies. As I mentioned above, each is very different from others. And most of religions' believers don't like other religions' believers. But as a global citizen, it is not right. Above of all, still there are many wars that kill each other. And most of them are because of diffence of religions. The world would get into chaos. So, what I want to mention is, even in religion, people should have a chance to stand other's side, and though you think others are incorrect, don't evaluate them badly. You are not always correct.

Until now, we see the key characteristics of a "global citizen". I chose three things.(There are also other things.) First thing is communication skills, and then recognizing global people as your family. And the last thing is compromise with other religion's people, that is to say, peace in religions. If we want to see more developed world, we must be concerned about everywhere in the world. Sometimes, we just think and consider worldwide problems in developed countries' point of view. But there are some countries to be given some help to develop together. And in addition to these, I want to tell this world is not just for humankind. It is our ideal to realize the coexistence with all living things and nonliving things in mutual prosperity.

-jihyeseok

Hi Hwajung! I just want to to ask you about why and how do you think it is necessary especially in Korea to be a "global citizen"? As I know, Korea is alreasy a well-developed country and as prediction it will still grow more in the future. What will be the good results that it will dominate or bring-up in your country? Thanks and have a nice day!

I guess you did a good job on figuring out what will be the key characteristics of global citizen. However, I think it will be much more better to give us some examples for your first opinion. Except that, I think you made your own opinions about characteristic of global citizen. Also, it is great to have definition about global citizen as well.

Do you know what “global citizen” means? Citizen means the people who belong to one nation and global means whole world. So the word “global citizen” means the people who belong to whole world. But can he or she be global citizen just because he or she lives in this world? The answer is surely no. There are some key characteristics that people should have to be global citizen. Those are diversity, openness and sympathy.

First of all, global citizen should have diversity. Nowadays, world become unified more and more and local traits are vanishing. Because of comfort, people destroy custom environments and pursuit industrialization. As the surroundings become similar, people end up to losing their own personality. And development of media makes people think in same way and follow trends not their own style. But to be global citizen, people should have their own personality and thinking. Without diversity, there can’t be differences and conflicts. Without differences and conflicts, there can’t be development. Diversity is the precondition to make people think, discuss and come up with better ideas.

Secondly, openness is also important. People should be open-minded. Without openness, diversity would be followed by just conflict not by discussion and better ideas. Global citizen accept other culture and customs as different not wrong. For example, they don’t say “Eating dogs is wrong and bad” but “Eating dogs is their own culture. It’s not wrong, but different.” But being open-minded is hard because everybody have their own backgrounds, circumstances and belief. There are so many differences. I said diversity is important above, but without openness, it just leads to more troubles.

Last but not least, global citizen should have sympathy. It means they care about other people who live in other parts of the world. They care about the problems of world and participate in resolving problems. And they help people who were given less opportunities and worse surroundings. Because they know that’s fair. People who don’t care about war or starvation in other part of the world are not qualified to be global citizen.

The world is globalized more and more as time goes by. Everyday we hear news about things happen in other parts of the world where we have never been and barely know. Someday, when globalization spreads all over the world and there may be no nation boundary. Just one big nation, the world. Then we would call ourselves as global citizen. However, we have no right to call ourselves that. We should be qualified. With diversity, openness and sympathy, we finally can be global citizen.

-seunguglee

I think your essay is well-structured and has strong opinions about the topic.You were always worried about your weakness in writing a conclusion. However, I think conclusion in this essay is well written.! At the conclusion, not only a summary of your essay you also wrote solutions that can everybody win in this globalized world by coopoerating and competing with each other in fair ways. I think it is good. lol

Nowadays, you can often hear a word 'globalization' in various mass media. Do you know how a word 'globalization' can thrive all over the world? Development of communication tools and transportations let world's people share their thinking easily. As a result, the world has become smaller and smaller and become one in the end. (It never means real borders among nations are removed. It means there are no problems to communicate with one another and people feel sense of belonging in the world.) We call this phenomenon 'globalization'. However, although we live in era of globalization, all of us are not global citizen. There are characteristics that are needed for us to become for global citizen; fluent English ability, understanding various cultures and awareness of global problems.

Firstly, global citizens need to have fluent English ability. Indeed, English is the greatest language in the world. There is no language as strong as English. The number of people using English in the world is over 4 hundred million and the number will increase as time goes by. In this situation, even person from non-English country have to use English to communicate with other foreigners. Another purpose of having fluent English ability is to get much information. In era of globalization, knowledge is power. For example, one of causes to bring 'globalization' in the world is developing of Internet. Much information in the Internet is written in English. For example, portal sites like Google have enormous information written in English. To use this information efficiently, we need to learn English and improve our ability.Secondly, understanding various cultures is a virtue of global citizens. Some people may look down on other cultures. However, anyone doesn’t be granted to blame other cultures. There is no superiority or inferiority among cultures. There are only differences among cultures. In fact, there are some tribes that don't know what electricity is, what Internet is. But, they have built their own cultures for a long time. Every culture has unique value and attraction. Therefore, global citizens have to understand other culture, even regarded as uncivilized. (Of course, it never means we have to understand customs like eating a man.) Cultures regarded as uncivilized have lessons that we can learn human's wisdom. For instance, foreigners who visited Korea in era of Joseon may have thought Korea had undeveloped culture. But, nowadays, Korean historical remains like Bulguksa are appointed UNESCO world heritages and foreigners know excellence of Korean culture. What we think inferior to our culture today can be great in the future.

Thirdly, global citizens have to know global problems. Today, the world becomes one society and people in the world feel sense of belonging one group. But, even today, problems like hunger, exhaustion of natural resources and pollution are occurred all parts of the world. What does 'globalization' mean? It means world become one village and all people become one race. If we really live in era of 'globalization', we have to care about same race. However, people in the world don't try to think about other people, though there are many people having trouble of just living. Just living can be burden to the third countries. Do we try to help those people? Global citizen may feel a responsibility to help them. Problems like hunger, exhaustion of natural resources and pollution are world problem, not limited by one nation. We must solve this problem together. It's genuine virtue of global citizens.

To sum up, there are three characteristic of global citizens. Those are fluent English ability, understanding various cultures and awareness of global problem. Living in globalized society is not an easy work. Range that we concerned about must be expanded from my home country to the world. If we have these characteristics, this work will be easier than before. Also, if we are qualified for global citizens, this will be the way all of people in the world can win in this era. (Winning doesn’t always mean defeating other people.) Competition between people, cities or nations can be relieved through these characteristics. So, we must try to have these characteristic to win in the future.

-eujinjeong