ESL Blogs

I had never been to another continent besides my own until I came to Ukraine for the first time. I

had visited Canada, which borders the United States to the north, but that had been the extent of

my international travel. Since that first plane ride across the Atlantic Ocean, I have had the

opportunity to visit Greece, Germany, Spain and Poland. While I cannot be referred to as a

seasoned world traveler by any means, my experiences, which include coming to know people

from other countries through my English teaching has made me think that we, as a global people,

are more similar than different.

This is not to say that there are not differences between nations; cultures and languages certainly

vary depending on location, even within a country. However, I do see that most people are

largely concerned with the same basic set of goals and ambitions: getting an education, finding a

job, personal desires such as marriage and children and an interest in politics, most specifically

where they pertain to economic or logistical personal considerations.

Consider the recent vote in the United Kingdom to leave the European Union. Those who desired

it were concerned with the money their EU membership cost their nation and social issues such

as immigration. While the decision and the reasons for it are more nuanced than this simple

analysis, it shows how people are concerned primarily with the events of the world as they

impact themselves and their family.

This is a trend I have seen in other countries and cultures, including my native land, the United

States. We all worry about how an issue will affect us, such as whether your ability to travel will

be restricted, or corruption in the government. The problems that we all share, as we do our

happiness, are largely universal.