Global Citizenship: Red Cross

When you think of a good citizen what do you think of? Naturally we think of someone who is active in their community, and takes responsibility for their actions. So what is a good citizen on a global level? What is Global Citizenship? Well, opendemocracy.net states that,

“A global citizen is someone who identifies with being part of an emerging world community and whose actions contribute to building this community’s values and practices. (Ron Israel)”

So, all that basically means is that a good global citizen is someone who takes action within the global community. They are someone who knows their actions can have an impact on a neighbor but also someone across the globe. How many times have you seen those ads on T.V. to sponsor a kid in Africa? Many people ignore those ads but some people take action. The people who take those actions are considered to be global citizens. So with that said one of the best ways to become involved as a global citizen its to become involved with the Red Cross.

The Red Cross was established May 21st 1881 by a woman named Clara Barton. She was 60 when she founded the Red Cross and led the organization for another 23 years. However, Clara Burton had a history of helping people before Red Cross. During the Civil War she risked her life to supply and support soldiers in the field. According to the official website of the Red Cross she was never satisfied with the military medical units that were often far from the fights. when she was at Antietam she reportedly ordered the driver of her supply wagons to follow the canons and travel at night. She actually was further toward the battle than the medical units. While the battle took place Barton and her associates were helping the wounded by nursing...

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...ns also helped support the construction of four temporary hospitals and one permanent hospital and health care clinic. The [Japanese] Red Cross also helped people deal with their mental issues after the disaster by letting people talk to counselors who were trained in disaster-related trauma (Reliefweb). Which helped people who had PTSD (post traumatic stress disorder), depression, and anxiety cope with what was happening. At the end of the day the efforts of the Japanese Red Cross help alleviate the human suffering that happened as a result of the devastating tsunami that took over fifteen thousand lives.

So the Red Cross helps with natural disasters but is that all? No, it is not, the Red Cross will help anything that involves human suffering such as food shortages. One example are the southern countries in Africa such as Angola, Zimbabwe, Lesotho and Malawi