How Geography Shapes Our Culture and Worldview
Geography separates us, but with the two factors of finding similarities among humankind and digital technology, we can work together to create a harmonious world and future.
So recently I looked at the statistics behind this podcast. People ask all the time about numbers. Why do they care about the numbers so much when I don’t even care about the numbers? It’s probably because they want to make a judgment. People like making judgments about things.
I think long term, which means I don’t let my emotions and thoughts get tugged from every direction after every episode. The more consistent I am, the more the numbers go up. That’s all that matters.
But I did want to look at the location breakdown of listeners. Shout out to our international listeners. That’s the coolest. Of our non-US listeners, Canada and Mexico are right there. I think it’s interesting that it’s the two countries bordering the United States. Something spills over to what’s closest. It made me think more about how much our culture and worldview is actually shaped by geography.
I joked something the other day about Americans to my friend, Felipe. He said, “Why do people born in the United States think ‘Americans’ is them? I’m American too.”
I said, “No you’re Mexican.”
“I’m North American.” He’s got a point. We’re living on the two American land masses. We’re the Western Hemisphere. While we’re different from one another, our culture and worldviews align close together compared to living on the other continents.
I really started thinking about this back in January when I traveled to Paris. There was hardly any Latin American influence in the city. In Chicago, there’s so much. Latin culture is interwoven into the fabric of this great Midwest city. It’s part of the vibe. The people, the food, the hangs. I missed it in Paris. No way would I want to live here if there’s not a lively Latin influence. It’s such a part of my living experience. I started feeling this Team Western Hemisphere chip on my shoulder.
In Paris, though, there’s much more Middle Eastern and African influence. It’s all geography. The culture of cities and countries is a reflection of the people. When people move, they often move somewhere closer rather than farther. They seek opportunity most.
We can make geography as small or as large as we want. We can create friends or enemies however we choose our perspective. Playing sports as a kid, I competed against schools close to me. Then those schools all fed into one high school. Then our competitive geographical boundaries expanded. Pretty soon, in sports, you’re representing a region of the state, and then the state, and then the region of the country, and so forth.
With people from different places and cultures than us, we can always find common ground. With digital technology, we can connect even easier than years past. With these two factors of finding similarities and digital technology, we can work together to create a harmonious world and future.
On the last podcast, we talked with NASA’s Kat Kennedy about space exploration. Imagine a day when we’re communicating to something else, not the culture of this country or that country, but Earth’s culture. While appreciating our communities and cultures, we can focus on humankind to bring out the best in all of us. We need to aim higher. Because it’s possible and it’s more fun!