'To Bless All Mankind' March 30, 2015 Issue

Globalization—its significance for all

Stephen Carlson

Originally printed in The Christian Science Monitor, December 15, 2014.

According to a recent Monitor’s View, “Post-crisis, the world reconnects its dots,” indicators of globalization are rebounding since the economic crisis in 2008. The world is getting a bit smaller, with some increasing flow of goods, services, and ideas across borders.

This may seem unrelated to us individually as we sometimes deal with pressing issues of our own. Yet a greater awareness that nations and people are increasingly connected can encourage us to recognize mutual benefits and to be more sensitive to the needs of others worldwide. It can lead us to realize more fully that while the struggles of people in another culture may be different from anything we’ve had to face, the essence of those challenges is not necessarily unfamiliar. For instance, the desire for greater freedom can relate not only to life under a particular political system but to something we’re wrestling with individually—maybe a dominating family member, disease, some enslaving habit.

Globalization points to the fact that despite borders, different forms of government, and diverse cultures, we share some common interests and, in a profound sense, we share a common origin. The Bible’s book of Malachi asks, “Have we not all one father? hath not one God created us?” (2:10).

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