Happy World Population Day! What is it to be global and how do you become more global?

The world as we currently know it, consists of 195 recognized countries. If you want to count territories, it might be a couple of more, but all in all, 195 is the official number. And altogether, the world population is about 8.3 billion people, where India and China top the list with more than a billion in each, followed by the United States, Indonesia and Pakistan. In the little country of Sweden, where I’m from, the population is 10.7 million. And many are migrating! About 304 million people are migrants, where the United States hosts the most and India are the most emigrating.

When I grew up, my parents took me travelling a lot, since my dad conducted Ethnographic studies and has written many articles for the news. Most of my trips were done in my toddler years, wherefor I can’t remember many of them. My first bestie at daycare and preschool though, was a Mulatto-girl. 

All in all, I’ve visited Denmark, Norway, Finland, Germany (both West and East), Estonia, France, Portugal, Italy, Vatican, Greece, Turkey, Belgium, Netherlands, Switzerland, Austria and the United Kingdom. I’ve also passed through Poland and Yugoslavia and been to Hungary and Romania in Europe. In Asia, I’ve visited India, Bangladesh, Afghanistan, Pakistan, Lebanon, Syria, Iran and Iraq. And in the United States, I’ve been to Connecticut, New York, Maine, Vermont, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Maryland, DC, Florida, Illinois, California and Hawaii, with a short layover in Texas, and to Canada. That makes it some 30 countries!

Then add all the people I’ve met from other states, such as Alabama, Alaska, Arizona, Colorado, Louisiana, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, Ohio and Wisconsin.

And met people from other countries, such as Brazil, Colombia, Peru, Mexico, Cuba, Nigeria, Mozambique, Senegal, Kamerun, Sudan, Somalia, Angola, United Arab Emirates, Kenya, Kongo, Madagascar, Australia, Philippines, Indonesia, Thailand, Burma, North Korea, Lithuania, Spain, South Africa, Singapore, China, Mongolia, Turkmenistan, Russia, Azerbaijan, Virgin Islands, Guam, Marshall Islands, Puerto Rico, Timor, Japan, Samoa and Palau. And Taiwan.

So, I learned early to tell where someone comes from. It’s a secret hack of mine. It also is a connector, to know something about a country someone is coming from, especially with my own experiences, so we easier can relate. And while our looks, cultures and languages differ, there are so much more in common. You just have to look for it!

Which countries have you visited and/or have met people from?

This doesn’t mean that I would be someone without prejudice. Just the other day, when I was strolling through a department store in Stockholm, I saw a fabulous dress that caught my attention, so I went up to look and feel it. Directly, a salesperson approached me and kindly said hello. When I looked up to greet her, I noticed that she was a Muslim wearing a veil. While this young woman sounded Swedish with little to no accent, and displayed a friendly demeanor, I still felt that she was out of place among those clothes. And part of me wondered, how come she got that job and I none? I used to work in a clothing store when I was younger. This has of course made it easier for me to understand the immigration policies that the United States use to lessen immigrants’ ability to get a job, unless it doesn’t compete with an American’s, but nonetheless, if she must and wants to live here, can I not just be allowed to live and work elsewhere just as much? Isn’t this the point of being global? That we open for trade everywhere, for both people and goods, while keeping each country pristine with its specialties, culture and environment. Therefore, to me, being global is to be caring about people simply based on us all being humans. And therefore, I think the work of the United Nations is so important. 

We all have the same needs and want to be treated with the same respect. We all have similar bodies. And I’m pretty sure, all natives are adapted even biologically to the place from where they origin. The question is, where do we who are mixed go? Both me, my brother and my parents, were born in Sweden. But on my mother’s side, her mother came from Poland and on my father’s side, his mother came from Belgium, his stepmother from Germany and us as a heritage from Normandie, France. Where is then my best place to live? I was devastated for many years after I was deported from the United States, where I hoped to become a citizen already more than a decade ago. To learn more about what happened, you can find that in my book The Call for Divine Fathering – flying with the feathers of the eagle, where I also share my own lessons of safety. Available on Amazon and Kindle!

This is part of why I call Mother Earth my home, not just the name of the planet, but mother nature. Where I feel connected to nature, is my home. And this is of course everywhere. Mother Earth has her own spirit, her own life force, that can be perceived through all wildlife and vegetation. To recognize this spirit, is to connect with nature, with earth.

Photo of planet Earth made through ChatGPT.

To listen to this blogpost as a podcast, find The Source Podcast on Spotify, Apple and YouTube.