Today is World Gratitude Day.  This World holiday began in 1965, put in place after a meeting of members of the United Nations Mediation Group who wanted to find a way to show their appreciation to organizations and individuals who have supported the positive theme of Globalism.
The textbook World Politics: Trend and Transformation defines Globalism as “…the integration of states, through increasing contact, communication, and trade, to create a common global culture for all humanity.”

To be sure, our ongoing transition to a World increasingly dominated by Globalistic philosophy, wherein nationalistic desires are being scrutinized through the lens of the needs and rights of the citizens in all nations, has rubbed many the wrong way, to say the least.  That said, Globalism is increasingly being embraced, as economists have seen an overall increase in revenues in many economic systems, when international cooperation exists.  Dwindling resources have caused our leaders to cooperate with other user nations.  Pollution entering the atmosphere from our rapidly industrializing neighbors has caused a great deal of concern and consternation.  Globalism is the worldwide application of the Golden Rule, and however you feel about it, it seems to work in our day-to-day lives, so why not between governing bodies?  If we increasingly showed we cared about each other in our actions, I am certain there would be a wave of gratitude from all areas of our planet…

Former World Gratitude Day, Inc. President Edna Fuerth Lemle describes the holiday as one “for all peoples, a meditation for all religions, a day of celebration for all humanity united by a simultaneous shared emotion.”

The annual award provided by the United Nations to “World Citizens,” states the following:

WHEREAS, humanity has come to recognise devotion and allegiance to immediate family, to clan, to city, to state, and to nation, and now must experience the concept of Globalism; and

WHEREAS, words of praise and positive thoughts generate dynamic harmony, and

WHEREAS, decisions made from a grateful heart are endowed with intrinsic wisdom and engender prosperity; and

WHEREAS, gratitude, the opposite of “taking for granted,” is a positive emotion which generates good will, is a basic emotion which is indigenous to all people, is a peace-engendering feeling;

AND WHEREAS, September 21 is a special day. It is an equinox: one of the two times of the year when the sun passes over the equator and night and day are everywhere of equal length and everyone is equal under the sun;

THEREFORE let us proclaim World Gratitude Day, a holiday for all peoples, a day of meditation for all religions, a day of celebration for all humanity, united by knowledge of simultaneously shared emotion, a day when triumph of the spirit can make a world community.

Social media, to be sure, has already embraced a global philosophy:

• FaceBook has over 60 Million users worldwide, with the top 10 nations being the U.S., Canada, the United Kingdom, Australia, Turkey, Sweden, Norway, South Africa, France and Hong Kong. People are finding their long-lost friends, and connecting with strangers from all over, sharing photos and video of their daily lives and celebrations.
• MySpace has over 110 Million users worldwide, translated for use in 20 International territories.  Our teenagers are saying good morning to people waking up in Europe, goodnight to teenagers in Japan, and listening to music you never would’ve considered (shamisen, anyone?)
• Twitter has over 28 Million users in the U.S., but America only makes up 40% of total Twitter traffic. We tweet at basically the same rate as Japan. Other large level users of Twitter are seen in Brazil, Germany, Taiwan, Spain, Canada, Italy, the United Kingdom, France and the Netherlands. Language difference aside, you will find a great deal of English speakers tweeting away in other nations…

Want to gain a Global perspective? Reach out to citizens of other nations with your social media accounts!  I love Twitter, so I will provide the example of Twellow, or The Twitter Yellow Pages, a voluntary directory of Twitter users, based on their stated profile information. You can search Twitter profiles by keyword; so if you are looking for individuals living in Rome, Italy, simply type that in and hit the search button.  I highly recommend finding individuals from across the Globe, and enjoying the conversations you have with them. And don’t forget to show your gratitude to them for having found them!

Tiny Print, Inc. has sponsored The Gratitude Challenge a 3-week challenge to take a few moments each day and look at “the brighter side of life.” They are featuring blogs whose writers have dedicated themselves to meeting this challenge. Take a look and give it a try!