Reaping the Fruit of Globalization

Link on Helium.com

Wearing a made-in-China T-shirt, he came out from his Toyota SUV and merged into the crowd that was gathered by an anti-globalization organization through its website. This is an ironic cartoon that I have seen before. Numerous arguments are raised against globalization nowadays. Some argue that free trade will eliminate jobs and cause loss in their domestic economy, and others argue that globalization causes degradations of environmental and labor standards. (Wikipedia.org, 2008) However, they mainly focus on the cost of globalization; they do not consider the benefits or possible alternatives for reducing the cost while still reaping the benefits. Globalization benefits us in at least two ways: it will create wealth and will eventually promote environmental and labor standards.

       First of all, international trade will create more wealth and lead to benefits for all. According to Roger.L.Miller,(2005), an authoritative economist, economic theories of comparative advantage suggest that free trade leads to a more efficient allocation of resources, with all countries involved in the trade benefiting. Let us interpret this idea by using an individual example. I can type 1 page per hour and write 1 page per hour, while Tom can type 2 pages per hour and write 1 page per hour. Given 2 hours to do both works individually, the total output will be 3 pages typed and 2 pages written. What if I specialize in writing and Tom specializes in writing? The joint output will be 4 pages typed from Tom and 2 pages written from me. The extra 1 page is a result from specialization and free trade. Now we can just replace individuals with nations. World wealth will be greater when countries specialize in producing the goods in which they have a competitive advantage and then engage in foreign trade. On the other hand, while those critics argue that free trade eliminates the jobs in importing industries and causes loss in their economy, we also can see the jobs in exporting industries are increasing. In his speech about the effects of globalization, Tom G. Palmer, a senior fellow of Cato Institute, responded, “free trade does not affect the number of jobs, but it affects the kinds of jobs people have.” In another word, it increases the jobs they have a competitive advantage and eliminates the jobs they are not efficient in. As a long run, free trade leads to a more efficient allocation of resources and creates more wealth worldwide than a closed economy.

       Globalization is not only economically but also environmentally beneficial to human beings. There is a misunderstanding among anti-globalists. As Akin L.M. writes in his article “Poverty and Environmental Degradation”, globalization causes rapid population growth and consequently causes deforestation, desertification, biodiversity loss, urban pollution, water pollution and climate change. The opponents simply view globalization as the root of damage to the environment. However, the fact is that, as long as human beings develop in this planet, the negative effects on environment will exist even without globalization. The real root is the development of human beings, and it is inevitable. We should try to solve the problems result from our development instead of criticizing and being against globalization. Since the concept of “Protecting our earth” spread all over the world, more and more people who support globalization have taken steps to counteract the negative effects. According to “Confronting Anti-Globalism” (Business Week, August 2001), Home Depot Inc. has adopted an eco-friendly lumber supply program with Rainforest Action Network; Starbucks Corp. is working with Conservation International to buy coffee from farmers preserving forest. Another argument concerns that globalization drives capital flow to where environmental and labor standards are lowest, and consequently makes environment and labor standards worse and worse. But check the facts. “Investors invest where returns are greatest, which tends to be where labor is most productive, which is where people are correspondingly richer,” responded Tom G. Palmer, “and richer people tend to demand better, not worse, environmental amenities and working conditions.” Therefore, globalization will eventually cause a race to the top environmental and labor standards in the future.

       Generally, people around the world are more inclined to credit globalization for the benefits they are reaping, according to a research “The Pew Global Attitudes Project”. Even though globalization is not 100 percent positive, the more than 50 percent benefits are essential for the development of human beings. I would like to give the anti-globalists an old adage: “When goods cannot cross borders, armies surely will.” I believe, under the circumstance of globalization, the world will create more and more wealth, and with everyone’s concern, globalization will eventually create a beautiful home for us all.

Link on Helium.com 

     Some heroes serve as noble examples and have great impact on public, such as Mahatma Gandhi. Some heroes are just ordinary people come from our family, neighbors, and community. Some possess respect for human life and faith in one’s ability, while others show physical and mental courage, influence public and unpublic, as Miriam Polster (2001) writes in “Eve’s Daughters”. What makes a hero great? Heroes are sharing two basic common grounds in their great behaviors: dedicating to others with an unconditional love, and making a difference in others’ life.

       Dedicating to others with a conditional love is the most basic and important trait of a hero. People regard a person as a hero because he has done something important to others at the cost of something valuable to himself. Without a caring love, one would not be willing to sacrifice himself, and then would not be thought as a hero by others. According to Carnegie Hero Foundation (1990), eight women won awards for acts ranging from saving people from assault to rescuing people from runaway automobiles or from drowning(cited in Polster,2001). All these women risked their lives to save others, not because of the desire to get the awards, but because of their internal unconditional love toward human life, toward the victims they did not even know. In another story from “Want to Be a Hero?” by Eric Lannak, the people who saved the savagely beaten Reginald Denny during the 1992 LA riots did not seek to be heroes. They bravely confronted the angry thugs, risking their lives to save a seriously injured man, because they did not have the heart to watch a man beaten to death hopelessly. All these heroes showed their respect to human life and caring heart to strangers. This is the stem that makes one willing to sacrifice himself to serve others.

       Besides contributing his love to others, a hero also makes a difference in the life of others. In “Is a Hero Really Nothing but a Sandwich?” Ted Tollefson (1993) argues that, without Gandhi, India might not get rid of the control of British Empire; without Martin Luther King Jr., we might still live under the environment that full of racial-segregation. Mahatma Gandhi and Martin Luther King Jr. are both great heroes in history. With no doubt, they are regarded as heroes for the reason that they sacrificed their lives to initiate two grand historical movements that changed the world profoundly. Not only those famous people but also those people around us might be heroes who make a difference in others’ life. Make-A-Wish Foundation, a worldwide non-profit organization, is absolutely the hero of those kids who suffer life-threatening medical conditions. “We grant the wishes of children with life-threatening medical conditions to enrich the human experience with hope, strength and joy. What makes each wish even more remarkable is the power to enrich so many others’ lives – from friends, volunteers and donors to sponsors and even entire communities.” said David Williams, the President of MAW Foundation of America. It’s mournful to see those young kids end in a suffering, unromantic life without enjoying their wonderful experience. However, thanks to MAW Foundation and the donations from the whole communities, the wishes granted has a deep, life-affirming impact on the wish children and families, creating the hope, strength, and joy so greatly needed for them. To be a one-day actor, to go to Hawaii, to meet Bill Gates, whatever, makes a distinct difference in the children’s life. They have experienced what they wish, among which even we may not have the chance to experience. They all become special even though they have a shorter life, and they would surely remember their heroes, MAW Foundation and millions donors who are concerning them, forever.

       Almost all heroes are on the basis of dedicating himself to others with an unconditional love and making a difference in others’ life. Both qualities make a hero great. “What Makes a Hero” (2008) also has the same idea as mine: Whoever the heroes are, they all have a full-love heart and their courage helps them to make a difference. Therefore, a great hero does not necessarily have a great name or great reputation. Anyone of us, with our love and contributions, making a difference in the life of people around us, will be a great and heroic person.