Worldly Threads

On Globalization:


Do clothes make the man...international?

Let me back up a second. I've been following this whole fascination with the "flattened earth" for awhile. You hear the buzz words all the time: Global economics, international studies, traveling abroad - these are all part of our collective vernacular. The ideas have become quite common: Corporations and organizations not only benefit from entering other markets, they fear they cannot survive if they don't spread out quickly and effectively. Many people - students especially - are increasingly fascinated with traveling and learning of other cultures, not only to experience them for pleasure but to understand on a deeper level. Not to mention the edge it can give job applicants.

For perhaps some of these reasons, a goal of mine for 2008 has been to travel to various corners of the world. It's a fitting goal- I'm young and not tied down, and most people who know me are aware of my international focus, I think. Hey, I'm a multi-lingual, cross-cultural guy.

Sort of.

I realized one day* that the clothes I wear are more "international" than I am.

...That I've talked about traveling more than I've actually gone anywhere. I've learned about countries and dreamed about exotic places that I've never seen with my own eyes.

But my clothes have.

I took a quick poll of the tags sewed tightly onto the pieces in my room to see how far they've traveled. Let's start with shirts. (Numbers indicate how many shirts were from that country)

Shirts
Honduras- 13
Mexico- 8
El Salvador- 6
USA- 6
Haiti- 5
Cambodia- 4
Brazil- 2
Italy- 2
Pakistan- 2
Malaysia- 2
Korea- 2
L.A.- 2
Taiwan- 1
Indonesia- 1
Hong Kong- 1

Pants/Shorts
Sri Lanka- 3
USA- 3
Bangladesh- 3
Guatamela- 2
Baihran- 2
Indonesia- 2
India- 2
Dominican Republic- 2

Boxer Shorts
Philippines- 4
Indonesia- 4
Dominican Republic- 2

Jackets
Taiwan
China
Malaysia


So apparently, both Taiwan and Malaysia make shirts and jackets, but not pants or boxers. Honduras makes a whole lotta shirts, but nothing else. Indonesia likes boxer shorts, pants, and shirts, in that order. USA shirts, but half as many pants. China comes in sadly at the end for producing just one jacket. That's unacceptable.

OK, so perhaps my apparel isn't representative of the production capacity of each of these countries. But it does say something: I've got some miles to make up before I'm as well-traveled as the pants I slip on each day.

*October 25, 2007 to be exact

What's a target?

I want to share more about my "vision" for this blog, what kinds of entries I plan to write about. Here's the conclusion I've come to: I have a million freaking ideas, and probably a lot of good ones. But what's stopping me is that they're still all just ideas. No, I may not have written anything terrible, but I also haven't converted a single good thought into a published product. And that's the real crime.

My point is that I need to just write. However, that's not to say I don't have some ideas about what I want to write about:

1) Finance
I might tackle questions like "What's going on the in the global markets today?" Or "Should I buy that new pair of shoes?" Or put another way: How financial choices can add or take away value from our lives.

2) Globalization
The world is becoming more connected every day. Case in point: I was Skyped the other day by a lady in China who just wanted to make a friend. That's crazy. In fact, I have a post I've prepared specially for this topic...The topic being Globalization, not Chinese Skypers.

3) Charity
Why do people give? And more importantly, how the heck do we decide who to trust with our time and money? I think the whole idea of giving and philanthropy is going to become increasingly complex and sophisticated in our lifetime.

4) Faith in practice
Good idea, isn't it? It's like when Ghandi was asked what he thought of Western Civilization. Pardon the cynicism. I just hope action holds more persuasion than words someday. (OK, starting with me.)

5) Priorities
How should I spend every waking hour of my life? (or even the sleeping ones.) There are so many choices we have to make every year, or every 3 seconds. Like I'm writing this blog now when there are (at least) a dozen things I could be, even should be, doing. Why is it so important to me? I think this ties in with values and
how those forces drive people to do what they do.

6) Academics
The world of Academics is so cool. Not to be nerdy or trite, but it really is pretty amazing how it can connect so many people across fields and cultures. Education has the power to unite people. Remember that, friend.

7) Music, Family, Relationships
Gosh, I'm just throwing all these together, but they're all kind of the same. They're all things we listen to, things that move and inspire us, things that can really ruin a moment if timed right.


So to summarize, pretty much anything is game. I hope it evolves into an intriguing commentary of life's enigmatic moments, and inspires others to believe they too can write their own blog, about anything...at least anything not listed in the 7 bullets above.

Thanks for coming on this journey with me. Buckle up.

A New Breath, A New Year

It's 2008, everybody. It's a good time to start something new, I suppose. I'm still breathing, and that's a good enough reason as any to do something new.

The inception of this blog started a year ago, and now its implementation is beginning now. We'll be continuing this through 2008. Then in 364 days, we'll see if it's good enough of continuing. I'm looking into the future, and I'd say so.

Sorry there's not more to post today. Soon I'll explain more about the topics, themes, philosophies, inspirations and aspirations of this blog. I'm excited.

Feliz Ano Novo!