Needed: Global Villagers

As I write these words, the world is battling an unprecedented economic crisis and the potentially deadly H1N1 virus. Both battles serve as a jolting reminder that the human race has entered a new era in which geographical and political boundaries no longer serve to isolate its six billion members scattered around the globe.

The globe has shrunk into an interconnected and interdependent village through global movements of goods, information, money, and people. But this village is new, its residents have just moved in, and they don't know one another very well. They come from different tribes, speak different languages, and have customs that may appear strange to those outside their group. They may be suspicious of one another.