Our Perspectives series features op-ed pieces from guest bloggers, United Planet contributors, and volunteers. Through this series, we aim to illuminate different viewpoints and foster open discussion and cross-cultural understanding between people of all different backgrounds. This Perspective is written by Dave Santulli, founder and executive director of United Planet.
This weekend, we observe a somber anniversary of an event the tore through our country and our world. Ten years later, we are still grieving, still healing, still trying to find a way to find peace and good will and understanding. We send our deepest condolences to all those affected; and our best hopes for unity as a people in the years to come.
This year also marks the origins of United Planet, and makes our mission more vital than ever. In the spring of 2001, the initiative began. The organization was officially established as a non-profit in November 2011. But it was on September 11, 2001 that the importance of United Planet’s programs became frighteningly clear.
In the aftermath of 9-11, there was a breakdown in our cross-cultural trust, especially towards Arab and Muslim communities. Friends and neighbors became possible foes. A thick paranoia and fear encrusted the hearts of many. The prescient essay, “A Clash of Civilizations,” by Samuel Huntington — which predicted that cultural and religious identities would be the primary source of conflict in a post-Cold War world — seemed to take shape before our very eyes.
Watch the video about United Planet’s efforts toward cross-cultural understanding in the aftermath of 9-11
As a young organization, United Planet acted swiftly to implement our budding programs. In the month of September 2001, we launched the Cultural Awareness Project and brought Arab and Muslim Americans into classrooms to talk about their cultures and backgrounds. We needed to remind people of our common humanity and not let fears get the best of us.
And it did make a difference. Students and teachers developed new perspectives, not based on what they heard on TV or some fearful neighbors, but based on their dialogues and conversations with real people.
CNN picked up on the innovative nature of this program and followed our volunteer presenters into schools. You can still watch the CNN report.
This month, we remember not only the horrors of 9-11, but we also celebrate the response by people all over the world to build more understanding, respectful, and supportive relationships together. A decade later, United Planet continues on this journey with the belief that relationships are the building blocks of a more united and peaceful world.
Whether you volunteer abroad, share a cross-cultural presentation, start an Ambassador club, or take part in discussions with others around the world online — extend a hand, reach out, and commit to building at least one new cross-cultural friendship this year. There is so much to learn and share from one another. Your new relationship will enrich your life; when you only understand one culture, you miss out on the cultural heritage of so many others. Your new relationship will also create one more essential thread within the fabric of a more peaceful world.
As we remember the lives of our friends and neighbors who were lost in 9-11, let us rekindle our desire to bring the world closer together. To honor those lost by giving as much as we can back to the world and to each other.
ABOUT UNITED PLANET
United Planet is a non-profit organization with a mission to create a global community, one relationship at a time. Established in 2001, United Planet offers volunteer abroad, virtual internships, internships abroad, gap year volunteering, and global virtual exchange in more than 40 countries.
