In quite an impromptu series of op-ed articles I've been writing on being open, this one focuses on the idea of being a global citizen.

The world is slowly becoming smaller and smaller every day. As we move forward in time, we will only continue to see more and more of the world interact , either by fighting or by cooperating. In international relations jargon, these show more realist and liberalist views respectively. As I see it, globalization can only improve our ways of life, for various reasons.

Thinking about the world today, many issues all seem to have xenophobic roots. The two more prominent issues that I can think about off the top of my head involve the state of displaced peoples (i.e. refugees) and a broken U.S. immigration system. Much of the negative vibes I sense today come from a sense of wanting to shut people out, mostly due to a dangerously-strong mix of ultranationalism and a lack of education.

For those who are unaware, the world operates much better on a system of openness and working together. The academic world has already shown that cooperation is good for all players in this world game, particularly economically. Well, this works at least if you believe in the ideal of freer markets with certain exceptions to make room for some industrial policy, but I digress. For more basic information on trade, go look up the "Prisoner's Dilemma" in a search engine. When you get past the economic benefits, you see that the exchange of cultures is the real source of value in this exchange. As much as a millennial sentiment this may seem, money is great and all, but being aware and culturally-knowledgeable of other peoples and regions different from your own has its own invaluable quality to it. From this we can obtain better cultural understanding, and come one step closer to being friendlier to others, just like how that girl from Mean Girls put it.

Looking forward, essentially at some point in the future (if not already somewhat near to that day today) nations will be interconnected enough that being a well-informed, cosmopolitan person will be the norm. Granted I'm in the interesting bubble of California, but I also can't account for anything past the western coast of the U.S.

Being open and educating ourselves about the world is in all of our best interests. As I and others see it, we have the illusion of a choice: we can either embrace other cultures as they come and educate ourselves willingly, or fail as the world comes metaphorically knocking at our door and we struggle to be a good friend because we have no clue what to make for dinner.

So we can either take in the world with open arms or hope the world isn't vegan. (Hint: They probably are vegan.)

Stay tuned for more haphazardly-written, POV articles about the world!