We humans generally cluster in neighborhoods.    We live locally and a surprising number never travel beyond a few blocks radius. On occasion, some with surpluses venture forth to visit other places on vacation or on business – but I would guess that family would beckon and we would be with them for most of our trips.  However, we cluster and we scatter.  I consider the lucky ones are those whose families live down the street and who get to see each other and be with each other on an almost daily basis.  But, since that is not our lot, we will make do with what we have.  I would suspect that there are those who believe their family ties are too tight and confining but living locally does not obscure the fact that we depend on the Globe for what we cannot dig out of our backyard.  Hence, we trade, barter and buy and sell for the things we are persuaded that we want or need. Interdependence is the name of the game we play.

Years ago I belonged to a group that fostered the idea that we needed a world government.  Some of us thought that was what we got when the UN was created by the victors in World War II.  It is somewhat of a non-sequitor to admit that by adopting the UN and letting the WWI League of Nations idea dissolve that most nations in the world now belong to the UN – to the consternation of the United States that thinks it owns the organization.  But, the idea of a world government was and is a great idea.  Instead of war, disputes could be settled by negotiations and diplomacy. Trade could be regularized and the worth of what was bartered back and forth or sold on markets would be to enhance the living of all people and not just the bank balances of the few who control such things.

While we live locally, close to parents, family and near where we work, we have come to depend on the other peoples and their nations for they share our globe.  Our one world is an obvious fact yet we act as though one people or one belief must swallow it all. Whether you have thought about this or not, the fact is that the whole structure of the world would come crashing down if the right straw was pulled out of the haystack. We have been looking for that keystone or kingpin that holds the world together and have not yet found it.  We depend on the world and its peoples for the clothes on our backs, the vehicles we use to travel, the fuel that makes them go and most of the food that is not produced by ourselves. We are luckier than most. Our resources are a cornucopia of good nesses.

Our States are interdependent and have regularized our internal way of business and life. But, we have not yet imposed our way of life on the rest of the world.  It is clear to me that the rest of the world will sooner or later impose its will on their neighbors and on us.  We live locally but depend on the rest of the world that shares our Globe.