Do we live in a “simple, small world”?
Do we live in a “global village,” a unified international culture without prejudices or differences? That’s the message of a lot of pop culture media, but it isn’t an honest picture of the world we live in. So argues Mark Matlock in “Crash Into Me” [PDF], a recent article at Youth Specialties. Matlock suggests that
We should be concerned about the oversimplification of the diversity issue as we help today’s young people find their place in the world…. the issue of cultural diversity goes much deeper than some trite stereotypes that we face in our daily lives. To oversimplify the depth of what keeps us from unity is a larger detriment that leads to even greater cultural clashes.
He concludes with several ideas for how we can respond to the “simple small world” idea in our ministries and communities.
