Reflection Essay On How to Be a Better World Citizen. Celeny Echevarria

How to Be a Better World Citizen

by Celeny Echevarria 

    

    In this assignment, we have to reflect on the last presentation the class did, which was about how to become a better world citizen. First, we have to establish the definition of what it is to become a better world citizen. The definition can mean many different things to everyone. A better global citizen is aware of and understands the world around them and their place in it. They are a citizen of the world and want to bring as much understanding, love, and kindness. They take an active role in their community and work with others to make the world more peaceful, sustainable, and fairer. In this case, my group chose the topic of respect in order to describe what it really means to be a better world citizen. We were group one meaning we had to present first and have our information ready to go. My group is very easy to work with because we communicate constantly and divided the work equally so that everyone has an opportunity to contribute. One thing I really like about my group is that everyone wants to get a good passing grade meaning no one is going to pull anyone down in the group since everyone wants to succeed. I felt very supported and enjoyed working with my group this whole semester, even though I was skeptical at first since in the past I have not had good experiences with groups but thankfully this group was not the case. 

Group 1

    As I stated before group 1 was the group, I was in. We chose respect as our main point in discussing how to become a better world citizen. With respect as our main point, the group chose 3 subtopics which were: respect for ideals and upbringing, race and culture, and sexuality. The subgroup that chose upbringing and ideals discussed about the importance of having good morals and respecting others' ideologies and upbringing because everyone is different and grows up with different backgrounds that is why there needs to be respect towards ideals and upbringings. The next subgroup was respecting toward race and culture, it is important to educate yourself about others' cultures and races because that is common courtesy in taking an interest, it also helps that if you educated yourself with race and culture you will not be culturally appropriate for others' cultures. The last subgroup was respect towards others' sexuality. That was the subgroup I was in and the reason we chose to do it in sexuality because of the hate most people get for having a different sexuality than the norm.  respect towards sexuality is important because that is how humans express love and attraction to other, we are all unique in our own way it only makes sense for people to have unique sexuality. Overall group 1 did an amazing job in presenting what it means to be a better world citizen by just honing and putting into action the skill of respecting others no matter the differences in each other. 

Group 2

    In Group 2, they decided to do different cultures around the world and spread awareness of each culture. By doing so they would be educating people and different cultures which would lead to becoming a better world citizen. Group two started off with the different types of foods each culture has. They first presented the different foods around Europe which consisted of pizza in Italy, paella in Spain, cheese fondue in Switzerland, waffles in Belgium, and gyros in Greece. They moved on to Asia and explained the different plates Asia has to offer. Starting with Curry rice in Japan, adobo in the Philippines, Peking duck in China, bibimbap in south Korea, shawarma in Lebanon, pad Thai in Thailand, pho in Vietnam, and khichdi in India. Then came Africa which was sorghum soup in Zambia, maeokw in Uganda, and ugali in Tanzania. Then came Australia with traditional foods that are roast lamb, fish and tips, and pavlova. Last but not least we go into North and South America where we have hamburgers, steak, tacos, and pico de Gallo. After group two finished discussing different foods around the world they went into religion which consisted of Hinduism, Islam, Buddhism, Christianity, Judaism, and Bodum. Group two explained the importance each religion has and where in the world the religions are being practiced. Lastly, group two presented the different traditional clothes each country wears around the world. Group two had a very interesting presentation because they focused on educating everyone about the different cultures around the world doing that will help us become better world citizens since now we have knowledge of the different cultures around us.

Group 3

    Lastly, group three decided to do their presentation on the importance of contributing to the community and spreading awareness. In their presentation, they defined what it means to be a good global citizen. Group 3 focused on three subtopics that were children and young adults, the elderly, and special needs. Group 3 presented their first subtopic which was children and young adults they talked about how it's important to organize a support group, create a mental stress-free outdoor break, and arrange physical activities to help with any stress they may be feeling. They explained there are many ways to help the youth: volunteering at a daycare in your local community, volunteering to be a teacher, and volunteering to tutor. Their second subtopic was elderly citizens and they talked about some of the challenges the elderly go through. Group three began by explaining how elderly people have to go through a loss of sense of purpose, financial insecurity, difficulty with every task and mobility, finding the right care provision, access to health care services, and end-of-life preparations. The last subtopic was spreading awareness with those who have special needs. Group 3, spoke about how people with special needs have insufficient funding, inaccessible conditions, lack of individualization, trouble communicating with peers, lack of especially list, negative attitudes of people towards disability, and lack of relevant assistive technology.  Group 3 did an amazing job of spreading awareness towards kids and young adults, the eldering, and people who have special needs. It was a beautiful experience to learn so many different topics about the world we live in. This presentation opened my eye to how important it is to contribute to communities.