#21 Where do I go from here?

This year in world issues we have covered a variety of topics, I feel that all the topics we have covered are important, however the ones which we spent the most time on include the Arab Israeli Conflict, the European Economic Debt Crisis, Biodiversity, Global Disparity, and Global Warming.

I personally found the AIC and Global Disparity to be the two most influential topics that we covered. The reason for this being that up until this course I knew very little regarding the AIC, I was aware of the 'War in Iraq', Al Qaeda and the Taliban, however I was not aware that they were all related and stemmed from this conflict that had been going on for decades. I find the conflict itself very interesting, and I enjoyed the culminating assignment which involved my representation of Egypt in the AIC Game that we took part in online. I feel that this one topic not only broadened  my understanding of conflicts in that part of the world, but it also affected the way I approach situations which have more than one solution, being a mediator in this conflict truly made me understand the importance of seeing an argument from every possible point of view.

I also mentioned Global Disparity as being one of the most influential issue that we covered this year. My reason for singling out this topic is because, I have lived in countries where majority of the population lives in poverty, witnessing poverty at a young age truly opened my eyes as to how lucky I am to live above the poverty line, with friends and family who care for me. However I have now lived in Canada for 9 years and although I have always been aware that poverty exists across the globe I had begun to forget just how bad some peoples everyday lives are, watching the move "invisible children" and discussing the problems in Uganda really reminded me just how fortunate I am.

With regards as to how I plan one using what I have learnt this year in the future I plan on making my self  truly aware of the issues are going on around the world - and in terms of action, doing what I can in to change them. The newspaper, and online media are excellent sources for learning about global issues, whether they be environmental or humanity related. In terms of action I plan on communicating with my government and standing up for issues that I believe in, and most importantly, believing that I can make a difference to the number of crisis that are currently going on across our planet.