Shadow of the Giant
or things over my head.
So in the past week I was going to post a couple things, but I decided not to. One was a weird story that had nothing to do with my life, and the other had to do with my faith. Why I chose not to post them I don't know, I think I was afraid of getting negative feedback, which is weird because, pretty much the only people I know who would look here are my friends...end of thought.
So I am a big fan of the book Ender's Game by Orson Scott Card and the other seven novels that have to do with the Enderverse. (The universe in which the novels take place) I just bought and read the latest book and it raised some thoughts. The part that interested me was the goal of one of the main characters to unite the entire world under one government. Not to dissolve nations, but to create a United States of Earth so to speak. So it gets me thinking...
"That's pretty cool", I think.
"Is that what our world is heading towards?"
"Is that possible the way the world works now?"
Then I hit the one that stumps me.
Why are there nations?...I mean I get the centralized government of people and the good that brings. But why do people cling to "their" nation or a national identity. I think the EU is a good step and I think even some west African nations are going to be using the same currency soon. But would America ever become part of the United States of North America with Canada and Mexico?
And then I remember that I am a silly idealist who thinks that everyone would be happier living on a farm and doing a hard days work, instead of worrying about progress, whatever that is. And I remember that in the Enderverse the world has had an alien invasion to unite under and also has the technology to colonize other worlds, which is pretty sweet.
So then I think to myself, "I would jump on a colony ship in a heartbeat."
So I am a big fan of the book Ender's Game by Orson Scott Card and the other seven novels that have to do with the Enderverse. (The universe in which the novels take place) I just bought and read the latest book and it raised some thoughts. The part that interested me was the goal of one of the main characters to unite the entire world under one government. Not to dissolve nations, but to create a United States of Earth so to speak. So it gets me thinking...
"That's pretty cool", I think.
"Is that what our world is heading towards?"
"Is that possible the way the world works now?"
Then I hit the one that stumps me.
Why are there nations?...I mean I get the centralized government of people and the good that brings. But why do people cling to "their" nation or a national identity. I think the EU is a good step and I think even some west African nations are going to be using the same currency soon. But would America ever become part of the United States of North America with Canada and Mexico?
And then I remember that I am a silly idealist who thinks that everyone would be happier living on a farm and doing a hard days work, instead of worrying about progress, whatever that is. And I remember that in the Enderverse the world has had an alien invasion to unite under and also has the technology to colonize other worlds, which is pretty sweet.
So then I think to myself, "I would jump on a colony ship in a heartbeat."
posted by Wookie at Monday, March 20, 2006
1 Comments:
first of all, I can not wait until this summer when I can read more of the Ender series.
FInally, I like the idea of elminiating nationalities. However, for some reason people need to be defined somehow in relationship to others. I would like to see people seen as Christians or on a larger scale...humans! However, some people would say that an undifferentiated view of self is a bad thing. We must know who we are in relaion to others because that is what makes us...us, or me...me. I do not like that stuff because unlike other things, say roles, such as the gender variety, I think these concepts of trying to spearate people into groups or nationalities or something else is what leads to conflict. (nice run-on sentence there). We find ourselves worrying about sustaining differences and less about creating a common ground.
Anyway, I am just not sure people with a Western worldview would accept the concept of losing your identity to fit in to a larger whole as a community because if we did that, I would not know what makes me, me.
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