Maybe it’s because I’m going home in thirteen days, transferring temporary citizenship from one time zone to another. (In international airspace, I belong to nowhere but the vast landscape of our world.) Or maybe it’s because as I grow up, the space inside my protective bubble—created by years of living in an affluent New England town and more years at a homogeneous liberal arts college in Ohio—is slowly shrinking so that my head now hits the ceiling, and I find I must break out. Whatever the reason, I am no longer content with busying myself with the painful dramas of my own life. I am hungry for global education. I am ready to pledge my allegiance to the flag of mankind.

Both the current conflict in Gaza and the environmental crisis in the Gulf Coast have awoken me from what can only be described as a selfish slumber—twenty-one years of contained dreams and personal nightmares. These two catastrophes appeal to me now like destitute children, and I cannot turn them away. I don’t believe we should torment ourselves with every horrible gaping wound that appears in the world, because it often leaves us feeling powerless: what balm can we, as individuals, offer? I do, however, think it is important (especially for the often apathetic youth) to be aware of international affairs. Education about current events sharpens the actions of our everyday and lends an air of significance to everything we do. On Saturday, for instance, London will host its annual naked bike ride, a seven-mile cycle through the city that is meant to promote decreased dependence on oil. This becomes all the more relevant and important in the context of what’s happening right now in the Gulf Coast.

My mother, ever wise, has been a faithful global citizen for many years. Today, she works with Prosperity Candle, a company she co-founded that helps women in areas like Iraq, Haiti, and Rwanda to start up their own ventures in the scalable business of candle-making. I am honored to be interning with the company this summer and hope that it will take me one step closer to bursting out of the bubble that has sheltered me for so long.