Friend 2: So.. where are YOU from?
Bruno: I belong to no country.
Friend 2: How come?
Bruno: I’m not really into countries.
Friend 2: So you’re a global citizen.
Bruno: Exactly.
Friend 2: You’re living the dream, I wish I could be a global citizen as well.
Bruno: You can.
Friend 2: How?
Bruno: Live everywhere, be everywhere. Don’t vote, don’t associate or identify yourself with any country or government.
Friend 2: That’s it?
Bruno: Sure, it’s up to you.
Friend 2: My family and friends will be disappointed though.Bruno: And you have dark hair.
Friend 2: What?
Bruno: No, I thought we were stating facts that were irrelevant.
Friend 2: It’s not irrelevant, I still care what people think about me.
Bruno: Why would you?
Friend 2: Because I’m not confident enough, I need reassurance and I need to be accepted.
Bruno: Why wouldn’t they accept you?
Friend 2: Because they love their country very much, so if I tell them I don’t like it, they’ll think I’m not one of them anymore.
Bruno: But you realize, the only reason why they like their countries is that they’ve been told that’s what they should do, and nationalism is just another tool for social control, like religion or advertisement. Since childhood, they will make them sing the national anthem, make them swear loyalty to it, and teach them the history of their country making it look like they are the heroes and everyone else is an enemy. During the world cup or sports events, they have to “support the team” same goes during the wars. People don’t like to think for themselves so they just accept and do anything they are told, so they can fit in.
Friend 2: I want to fit in too.
Bruno: Why would you?
Friend 2: So I don’t need to defend my ideas and I can relax more.
Bruno: Good point.
Friend 2: If you disagree with everyone always, you are always standing in a defensive position.
Bruno: True.
Friend 2: And you don’t have the ultimate truth. It’s also possible for a person to be compassionate and still feel like they belong to a country, like Dalai Lama, he is the most compassionate person and still feels proud to be Tibetan, while at the same time embracing all the people of the world as his equals.
Bruno: True. So it really doesn’t matter if you have a country or not, what matters is that we are compassionate towards each other. Right?
Friend 2: Right, I’d still like to live everywhere and be a world citizen though.
Bruno: But you don’t need to.
Friend 2: I don’t need to.
Bruno: I need to.
Friend 2: You don’t need to.
Bruno: I don’t need to.
