Imagine No Countries
For many years I felt embarrassed when asked whom I admired. I really did not have anyone.
Then I went to the United States. One day, I caught a music video titled “Imagine”. John Lennon in a black shirt, sitting at a black piano singing. Yoko Ono, in a white dress, opening white curtains one by one, lighting the entire room with the music echoing: “Imagine, there's no countries….”
I was shocked by the scene and the lyric. I was totally captured by John Lennon, and his believe.
It’s hard to imagine a world with no countries. We may not be able to see it in our lifetimes, nor may the next generation in theirs.
However, there is a place in the real world where countries join together to share with each other their best and their imaginings.
I’m not referring to the United Nations, nor the Olympic Games. That place is the World Expo.
If you take a close look, you will find that the U.N. is an organization in which each country, for the most part, is fighting for its own interests; while the Olympics is a competition for individual prize and national pride. These are typical zero-sum games.
But that is not the case with World Expos. Even though there are awards, they are generally used as encouragement for the purpose of sharing and learning. At the 1851 London World Expo China displayed, among other things, fine silk products. The U.S. exhibited a grain reaper, seeding-machine and high speed steamboat. France presented printing presses and golden and silver dishware.
It was at the 1893 Chicago World Expo that Henry Ford saw the four-wheel vehicle produced by a man named Daimler. This inspired him to develop his first automobile. An independent pavilion for automobiles has been set up since the 1906 Milan World Expo. This has been enabling those from around the world who are interested in auto technology to learn from one another.
What better embodies the ideals of a country-less world and a world without differences than learning and sharing with each other?
A decade ago, a friend of mine traveling in France by herself, walking on the verdant hillsides in the south, happened upon a shepherd tending a flock of white sheep. She asked: “Where am I?” The shepherd replied, “Italy, of course.”
I think the story would have been more interesting if it ended this way: She asked: “Where am I?” The shepherd replied, “Planet earth, of course.”
Just imagine that day coming true – John Lennon will finally rest in peace.
i like countries with no boundary!