The Unwitting Citizen Diplomat

You’d be stunned at the number of organizations who commit their livelihood to world peace. It’s amazing to me with all these smart people thinking, talking, writing, meeting, strategizing about world peace, you’d think we would have figured it out by now. That said, I’ll leave the big brains to their work and raise one side of peace movement you don’t hear enough about: citizen diplomats.

What’s a citizen diplomat, you ask? (You aren’t alone.) It’s not one thing, it’s many things (this is the problem.) Simply put, it is average citizens who find a way to connect us to the rest of the world and connect the world us. Anyone can qualify. You don’t need to be a Rhodes scholar or a Foreign Service Officer for the State Department. You need to be curious about other people, places, and cultures. Note: I said you don’t need to be an expert–just be open to the journey. So what does that mean – here’s a few ideas of things you can do:

--Surf the internet for global news about countries you’ve never heard of or don’t know where they are (…but don’t do this until you finish reading my blog)
--Volunteer for the German beer festival (or just attend and try the beer!)
--Hold a book club meeting in your house to discuss a book with an international bent
--Speak a foreign language
--Host a foreign exchange student
--Get a passport
--Encourage a college student to study abroad
--Attend a world music concert
--Go to a lecture about a different culture
--Speak at your local elementary school about a country you’ve been to
--Patron a local company owned or run by immigrants
--Take a vacation abroad

This last one is worth an experience...on a recent ride from the airport to my hotel. I was the only passenger in a shuttle van and I had the Chatty Cathy driver. His bio: your very average Midwestern, polite man in his upper 70s. We talked sports, politics, the economy, and vacations (it was a long ride). This man has been a retired police officer for more than 20 years. His voice energized as he told about his favorite vacations, a notable cruise to Alaska was a highlight. I mentioned traveling to Belfast and Northern Ireland if he hadn’t been yet. He paused, glanced at me and proceeded to rattle off an armload of countries he and his wife had visited on vacations—and they weren’t your usual American in Paris moment. The safari in Kenya was memorable, the boat ride in China was fun, and so on and so on. He also told me how be brags about his trips to his friends he meets every morning at McDonalds to yak (his word not mine.)

What a great citizen diplomat he was and he didn’t even know it. I’m not sure why I tagged him as a typical American uninterested in the world. Just another reminder, there is no single profile of these quiet peace workers. We come in all shapes, sizes, colors, educational backgrounds, quirks, and opinions. I can’t think of a better citizen diplomat to send abroad, but the best part: he was having a ball with life. What else can you ask for?

Interested in learning more about citizen diplomacy? Visit our website, www.sister-cities.org or www.uscenterforcitizendiplomacy.org.