My idea to change the world? Make it smaller (figuratively, of course)
My video backdrop is from the viral hit “Where the Hell is Matt?” in which now-internet celebrity Matt Harding filmed himself dancing in various locations throughout the world.
Here is the video I used- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zlfKdbWwruY
But he has a bunch more that all have hundreds of millions of views.
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Love this idea. You bring up a lot of important reasons as to why this should be done, but I believe the most important is that all individuals would have a better understanding and tolerance of different cultures. Being in a college environment I sometimes don’t understand why certain international students dress the way they do or why they do the things they do. I want to know why so that I have a better understanding of who they are, but also to help them feel more comfortable in our culture. Additionally, I think this idea would be great because after living in different places for 2 years, having a different international dish for dinner every night would be delicious.
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I think the idea has a lot of potential. Like Santi said, it could bring a lot of cultures together with a mutual understanding. I don’t know about making it mandatory though, because one thing some may lack is the desire to embrace a different culture, and change old habits. I definitely think encouragement is always good, and I would love to be able to travel again.
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This idea would have many great implications for understanding across cultures and different societies. Logistically, it may be very tough, and could present challenges in our economy having some of our newest members to the work force excluded to travel for a couple years, but like all things, I think we could adjust and this would ultimately result in a win for all.
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Like those who commented before me, I think this idea is very interesting and has a great deal of potential. As someone who loves to travel and experience new and different cultures, I’m all for it! It seem to me that making this sort of thing mandatory would bring about a few major issues however. For example, would this be required of young-adults whose families cannot support themselves without their labor? I think the benefits of such an idea outweigh the detriments, yet to implement such a monumental idea would take a great deal of time and planning.
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Interesting to pair this with Joe’s. Yours is a travel corps. His is a military corps.
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IS there a way to facilitate this? Programs like rotary exchange, Fullbright scholarships, Rhodes scholarships and so on have existed to do what you are describing, but you are aiming for so much more breadth. Is there a way to reach for such universality AND to make it possible for people from poorer countries to participate?
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@mgmt339 At the moment, I cannot come up with a cookie cutter answer for how this will be inclusive. My original idea was an epiphany after getting an email about Birthright. If you’re not familiar, Birthright is a program run by the Jewish Federation of America which allows any jewish American to go to Israel for 10 days absolutely free. In my scenario, I think the majority of the financial burden would fall on the governments of industrial countries. One idea that comes to mind is perhaps industrialized countries could sponsor poorer countries to come to them, so they would be hosts in a sense.
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Maybe some “swaps” could be worked out. For example, if countries had domestic service corps, and maybe richer countries could help subsidize them, then people from the US would go to, like Kenya, and Kenyans would come to the US for a year, let’s say. Both countries foot the bill for living expenses for youth for a year in exchange for needed community work. And they pay at their local costs.
Plus, the social investment will likely pay off.
Plus, I love the idea of inverting the assumptions about need and charity. Kenyans youth in rural PA helping rebuild trails, helping kids read, helping the elderly, and so on. Compassion doesn’t have to flow down the economic pecking order.
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