IN SOUTH AFRICA, we have a term, "Ubuntu," which refers to the spirit of the community. It is a shortened version of a South African saying that comes from the Xhosa culture: "Umuntu ngumuntu ngamuntu." This means that I am a person through other people. It means that my humanity is tied to yours. This is probably the single most important aspect of living in a highly connected planet: Our humanity is tied together. We must respect each other, and we must always keep our interconnection in mind.

The United States needs to understand the meaning of these South African phrases more than any other industrialized nation. The ultimate global power, the United States creates ripples that cause big waves around the world. This happens more frequently than the average American comprehends.

When Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan cuts interest rates by a quarter of a percentage point, it has a huge impact on me in South Africa. Straight away it influences my still sizable student loan, as the South African financial markets react to this news by preempting a cut or a hike by the South African Reserve Bank in response to rate changes in the United States. Ripples run through the Johannesburg Stock Exchange, and dollars will either be cheaper or more expensive for me to buy. In short, globalization enables Greenspan's small action relative to US markets to have a large effect on me 13,000 miles away in South Africa.

Imagine how many other powerful decisions resonate with me as a citizen of South Africa. When the United States refuses to sign the Kyoto Protocol, it decreases the quality of the air I breathe in Johannesburg and forces me to apply a few more layers of sunscreen in the summer. When the USA attacks Iraq, it heightens the religious animosity between the large Muslim and Christian communities living near Cape Town, creating security risks and tension. Hollywood movies, music, multinationals, foreign policy, farming subsidies, and import tariffs have a similar effect. These endless ripples are reaching my distant shore.

As I spend time in the United States, however, I am discovering some startling realities. Despite the critical role of the United States in world affairs, for example, many US citizens do not hold passports. They have traveled to many states but not to any other countries. They would be hard pressed to point out South Africa on a map.

On a recent trip to New York, I picked up three local newspapers: The New York Times, the New York Post, and AM New York, a free newspaper. I counted the number of international articles per page. The Times produced what I consider to be an appropriate number of international stories: one article on every fourth page. The two other newspapers had almost no international articles, aside from a few relating to Iraq.

This obviously was not a scientific study, but I think it was a fairly typical news day. The average American gets little information about what is happening in the world or about the role of the United States in world events. An even bigger concern is that a large percentage of those who read tabloid newspapers in the United States comprise a considerable and influential voting bloc that has, among other things, elected the current American government.

Twenty or 30 years ago, there would be nothing wrong with an American who never left home, never owned a passport, never spoke a second language, never knew the capital of Denmark. But we live in a globalized world. We live in a world of causes and effects. We live in a world where a single superpower has an overwhelming influence on global affairs.

Today, there is hypocrisy: The United States plays the key role in our globalized society, but its citizens are not globalized. Holding such a position of global influence without having a global worldview is not just naive, it is dangerous. It is dangerous to be the source of global ripples but to ignore their effect.

Over time, those ripples may cause waves that will slap back on your shores.

Julian Hewitt is a 2004 Clinton Democracy Fellow from South Africa and is the president of AIESEC South Africa, a student-run organization that operates in 88 countries and is focused on developing global change-agents.

© Copyright 2004 Globe Newspaper Company.

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