Representatives from all over the world gathered in Beijing this past June in an unprecedented sign of reconciliation and social advance.
If you’re wondering why you didn’t hear about it, don’t worry. It wasn’t an “official” gathering.
The group met at blue frog bar & grill amid neon lights and gyrating panda signs in Beijing’s Sanlitun district — which, on its better nights, resembles a strange oriental combination of Bourbon Street and Chinatown.
On this particular night, it served as an impromptu United Nations headquarters. Young students and workers from Iran, Palestine, Israel, Iraq, Saudi Arabia, Russia, Germany, China, Africa, Japan and the United States sat down at the same table and enjoyed good company and techno music blaring from a nearby club’s speakers.
Astonishingly enough, the collection of young men and women from all corners of the globe didn’t argue over politics, religion or war.
The westerners didn’t strip search the Iraqi for illusory “weapons of mass destruction.” The Jew and the Palestinian didn’t squabble over their seats and threaten to launch explosive missiles into each other’s holy sites. The Japanese student didn’t cower in the corner fearing an atomic bomb attack from his Allied drinking partners from across the Atlantic.
There were no signs of discomfort, and not a hint of racial or nationalistic tension could be detected. All involved parties relaxed and enjoyed a couple of Tsingtao beers together.
As I’m sure you’ve figured out by now, aforementioned “international gathering” is simply an account of an experience I had in China this past summer.
The trip marked my first venture outside North America. It was also my first real opportunity to interact with people from hundreds of different countries.
I learned a lesson during my time in Beijing, one you won’t often pick up on watching political pundits argue on FOX News: The world is filled with people who are essentially just like us.
This revelation came as a pleasant surprise, to say the least. So often we are told how divided the world is over a wide array of topics — religion, politics, you name it.
But we don’t hear about how much we have in common with our friendly neighbors around the globe.
Thanks to the Internet and various study abroad programs, the world is truly becoming a smaller place. We no longer need to conjure up caricatures and hearsay to draw conclusions about what other cultures might be like. Instead, we can interact with them in person or on the Web or go see for ourselves just how much we have in common with the rest of the world.
This revelation might sound foreign to people who only see other cultures in stereotypes and narrow-minded caricatures. But technological innovation is helping to bring the entire world together. The only people we have to fear are the ones who try to convince us we’re different than our international peers because of outdated cultural folklores called “religion” and arbitrary lines in the sand called “nations.”
Luckily, our generation has an opportunity to erase xenophobia and bring the world together in a positive manner. And the best way to overcome the “fear of the known” is to go out into the world and experience other cultures and places firsthand.
The University’s Academic Programs Abroad department currently offers a number of incredible opportunities for students to travel the globe — all while enriching their résumés and enjoying what is arguably the greatest part of many students’ college experience.
Unfortunately, with additional budget cuts looming, the upcoming semesters might be the last chance students have to sign up for some outstanding programs.
So sign up now, before penny-pinching, opium-smoking Indian Gov. Piyush Amrit “Bobby” Jindal castrates the budget even further, or that Kenyan-born, terrorist-loving, Muslim commie Barack Obama drives our economy back into the Dark Ages.
Isn’t cultural sensitivity great?
Scott Burns is a 21-year-old economics and history senior from Baton Rouge. Follow him on Twitter @TDR_sburns.
 
–
Contact Scott Burns at [email protected]