Citizen of the World

Oreneta honoured me with the above award and with these kind words:

“To Books Beth because she is always empathetic even when she has crap of her own to deal with...and she is funny too. Not sweet though. A little edgier than that, and that is a compliment.”

Thank you, my friend. And I do appreciate the “edgy” bit.

While I’m a citizen of the world in the general sense (I do live on the planet) I don’t consider myself particularly worldly. I haven’t traveled enough nor have I experienced so many things I once dreamed of doing.

But Oreneta provided a definition of what it means to be a Citizen of the World that I can relate to:

“So, in honour of folks who can look beyond themselves, their accustomed way of thinking, their own culture and beliefs and see that others can be correct, that they have valuable contributions to make and are worth knowing and loving, and who recognise that there is more than one way of doing EVERYTHING…”

And she ended her post with this question:

“What do you think constitutes a woman of the world?”

Woman and/or Citizen of the World – both require empathy, the ability to care. And you really don’t have to have traveled the world to care about others. Nor do you have to be experienced and worldly in order to do your best to understand those around you and those far away. You must simply consider yourself connected to others in a very basic and humane way - and act accordingly.

I’ve previously mentioned that I’ve always encouraged my children to live their lives according to these simple words: Be kind. It works for them and it works for me.

To be compassionate, kind and committed – incorporate those traits in your everyday life and you are a Citizen of the World. And you don’t have go very far at all to put them into action.


I would like to pass on the award to:

Attila - because from her corner of the world she reaches out to so many with her humour, understanding and compassion.

Sherry - because she is an inspiration to everyone whose life she touches…and she has so touched mine.



(I finally had to limit myself to two choices because my list was going on forever. I chose one person from my “old” blogger pal group and one from the “new.” There are so many Citizens of the World out there. You know who you are.)