I used to look at the world, and at history, as a progression towards one ultimate showdown; one battle royal that would decide the fate of the world. Perhaps I had played one-too many apocalyptical video games or perhaps I thought societal differences kept people from ever working together.
However, at the start of high school, I revisited my relatively negative view of human interactions. I discovered that among conflicts were also compromises and cooperation and collaboration. That’s why I’ve decided to write this blog on the ways different societies come together and the ways they grow apart. I’m taking the idea of the ‘melting pot’ and analyzing the interactions between cultures while they are per-say ‘mixing’.
I’d like to formally introduce myself to you now. I’m Victoria, and a senior in high school. I’ve grown up in a relatively sheltered, affluent community and I live with my twin brother and single mom. I have a I’ve always been interested in international relations and the effects communities on each other, which is one of the reasons I’m writing this blog. After high school I hope to study international business in college.
My interest in international relations really began after I participated in a two-week inter-faith summer camp called Hands of Peace. During the program, 15 kids from Israel and 15 kids from Palestine are brought to the United States, where they discuss, with American teens, the conflict back at home. The moment that stands out best in my mind was the last day of the program, when we sat down with our facilitator and he told us to create a solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. At first his request was met with laughs, honestly, how could he want us, a group of teenagers, to come up with a solution that had been debated for nearly 200 years? After realizing he wasn’t kidding, we began the process. Torn pieces of paper, yelling, crying, frustration, confusion, and passion ensued for the next 3 hours, but by the end we had a tangible solution on the board. Being together for 2 weeks, nearly 24 hours every day, the participants in Hands of Peace had truly become a family. We had been able to put our differences aside and it was at this moment I saw how human understanding and communication could bring peace and resolution.
I hope this blog serves you, my readers, as well. My blog lens is really about the ways different societies see the same event, comparing and contrasting their opinions and the actions that arise from that. In an age of technology, the world moves closer and closer together every day, and the world is prone to more cultural interaction. I’ll be looking at these interactions, the way in which people choose to communicate their opinions and the implications of them. I hope you gain a perspective that you might not be able to gain from just watching the news or reading a magazine. Whether you want to learn about someone else’s side or learn more about your own, here is the place to be.
The world’s mixing out there, let’s go see it.
