Good afternoon, ladies and gentlemen, honorable judges.
As a citizen of a country, I have a birth certificate, a household register and a identity card. I am entitled to certain rights, responsibilities and privileges. I have freedom of movements in the country, I obey the country’s laws, and I enjoy the convenience of social policies and so on .What about a citizen of globe? Is there anything to characterize the global citizenship? A certificate, a register or certain rights? Not really. Global citizenship means a world where people are treated and respected equally for who they are. It is about helping people that are less fortunate. It is about inclusiveness. Interacting and working together is the core of being and belonging. We need to realize how important our connections are with others in our friendships, our neighborhoods, our communities, and with our planet. In another word, Global Citizenship is about people’s awareness of seeking the common good. It is about everyone.
Is my idea too abstract? Here I’ve got a vivid example. When I was a child, my father always told me some stories about the past generation. Once he told me a story about a doctor. When the doctor heard people suffering in Spain because of the civil war, he came to help. He saw many people dying just because they had no money. Then he proposed a system that enabled the poor to have medical treatment. It is the beginning of the idea of Socialized Medical Care. After the war, the doctor worked hard to improve the treatment of tuberculosis. In 1938, the second Sino-Japanese war broke out in China. The fifty-year-old doctor came to help again. During his years in China, he trained more than 1000 Chinese to be medics and doctors. It was him that designed the world’s first mobile medical unit which saved thousands of lives.
In the story, what impressed me most was a description of this admirable doctor. My father could still remember it even after decades. It was “his utter devotion to others without any thought of self was shown in his great sense of responsibility in his work and his great warm-heartedness towards all comrades and the people”.
Till now, you must know the doctor. You are right. It is Norman Bethune, a distinguished surgeon. He was a medical hero who helped unite two countries by showing our common humanity beyond cultural and political differences.
What kind of spirit is this that makes a foreigner selflessly adopt the cause of the Chinese people's liberation as his own? It is called the spirit of global citizenship-seeking the common good.
As a doctor, Norman Bethune did his best. As a citizen, what could you do? Encouraging awareness of seeking the common good is not a search for scapegoats, but an expression of responsibility. It is a call to conscience. And though it requires sacrifice, it brings a deeper fulfillment.
What you do is as important as anything the doctor did, as long as it benefits people. You are needed to seek a common good beyond your comfort; to serve the world, beginning with your neighbor; to become global citizens. Global citizens, not spectators; Global Citizens, not subjects; Responsible global citizens, seeking the common good. Let’s act now.
