For my entire school career, I have been home-schooled. I was never a part of a homeschool group or hung out with a certain group of people every day. There was no 'school spirit' or school pride because my school room was my bedroom where I avidly read and did my studies each day. Growing up, I have been pitied, and thought to be socially inept due to my lack of experience in the normal rituals that most went through. But looking back, as a recent high school graduate, I am beyond grateful to my parents for deciding to homeschool me. True, I never attended sporting events, had a lot of friends, or even went on an awkward first date, but I have something far more valuable. Perspective.

It never once occurred to me that I ought to feel pride for something, simply because those around me did. Rooting for the success or failure of a certain team or group never made sense. I could never understand things such as in the 3rd grade when adults tried to pit boys and girls against one another all in the name of fun. As I got older and the world became more connected by the internet and social media, I began to see us versus them on larger and larger scales. I began to pity the kids who made fun of me for being different because, in order to do so, they had to hide their differences from one another. And it saddened me to realize that everyone was so busy being against something, that they had lost sight of what they were for.

And I did not know there was a name for those like me, until a few months ago, when I saw an interesting TED talk about what it means to be a global citizen. It wasn't a term I had ever heard before and so naturally, I was intrigued. As I continued to research this, I realized that there were others out there who had asked themselves the same questions as I did growing up. "Why should I be against them?" "How come you won't listen to me because I am a teen?" "What can I do to help?" and most importantly: "Why the hell do you keep on asking me whether I'm Team Edward or Team Jacob?!"

I didn't like that I was made to choose a side or that there were even sides with to begin with! I have always seen myself as a human being who was a part of this planet. Yes, I am an American, but I have never understood why that label ought to fill me with a great sense of pride. Why should I be proud of having more than everyone else? Why should my lack of suffering fill me with a sense of superiority? What is so great about having more when it means that someone else must have less just because they live in a different part of the Earth? And with these thoughts, I came to the conclusion that I am a global citizen.

To be a global citizen is to care. It is to realize that there are things out there bigger than your pride or ego or scope of perception. It is to stand up as one of many and face the injustices of this world with ready hands and an open heart. It is to say: "I see what is going on in the world -- my world -- and I care. I want to help regardless of whether or not this benefits me."

Because the human experience is something bigger than you or me. Mankind is at it's worst, not when they destroy one another, but when those witnessing the destruction refuse to speak up. The world needs more people who are global citizens. More people to speak up, act, and care.

The world is more connected now than ever, The whole world is our backyard and it does no good to deny that the world needs more people who care about global issues. We hear all the time with issues such as the refugee crisis that we need to protect our own first and foremost. It was a view I once had held. Until I realized that 'my own' were not just the small-town folk nestled here in the mountains of North Carolina, but the whole world. We can no longer pretend that these global issues have nothing to do with us. That we have no impact because we do. There is no end to the change we can bring if only we have the courage to speak up.

And now, it seems only fitting to conclude with the words of Hugh Evans when he said, "I am a global citizen, are you?"