Globalization continues
President Woodrow Wilson's League of Nations was unpopular with Americans who wanted no part of "one world" thinking, and the same is true among Americans who don't favor the United Nations.
Globalization continues in spite of national patriotism. An elderly American gentleman, upset by the French who didn't support American action in Iraq, was upset and offended by the arrogant attitude of passport officials in Paris who demanded to see his visa. Our friend told the French official, "You didn't demand to see it the last time I came to France." The Frenchman made comments about uncooperative Americans, and assured that it's always necessary to show a passport when entering French territory. "You didn't ask for one on June 6, 1944, at the beach in Normandy," our friend replied.
But, how far has globalization come? Farther than most folks realize. E-mail has made instant communication available at a virtually free price. Kansans can send a message, with questions, to someone anywhere on Earth and receive a reply within minutes.
An English princess with an Egyptian boyfriend crashed in a French tunnel, riding in a German car with a Dutch engine, driven by a Belgian who was high on Scotch whisky, followed closely by Italian paparazzi on Japanese motorcycles, and treated by an American physician using Brazilian medications.
Our friend who sent the above paragraph is an Irishman, using American Bill Gates' software on a Japanese assembled computer using Philippine-made memory chips in an IBM clone with a Korean monitor assembled by Bangladesh workers in a Singapore plant, transported by American trucks driven by Indians, which were hijacked by Indonesians, and eventually sold to the USA by Chinese.
Our son has a Japanese car, made by the same folks who brought us the Japanese Zero, but it was manufactured in Illinois. Our American named car was manufactured in Canada by a German owned company.
Globalization puts us all in the same predicament. The only solution is that we must learn to get along with each other.
— BILL MEYER
