For some of us, our first multicultural experiences as children may have been when our parents took a hard left at Cinderella's Golden Carousel and hopped on the It's A Small World boat at Disney's Magic Kingdom.
Sorry if I jogged your memory and you can't get that tune out of your head now, but insipid song aside, the idea that we have plenty of common with people from around the world is pretty solid.
Belief that this is a small world is simplistic when you look at a country like North Korea, but the concept beats retreating to the isolationism that was rampant in America during the early part of the 20th Century. If you don't believe that, you may as well just construct long, huge walls along our borders. (Wait, what's happening at our southwest border again?)
So why do I have this sudden emotional rush of multiculturalism?
I just caught World Cup fever for soccer from my friend Ian MacLurg, social marketing analyst for Pomegranate Studios in downtown Grand Rapids.
MacLurg and his "team" intend to reach out to the Latino, Eastern European and African communities to organize World Cup viewing parties at Uccello's on the East Beltline Avenue SE that may lend a cosmopolitan flair to the metro Grand Rapids area.
"I believe the World Cup is more of a cultural event than a sporting event," says Ian. "My personal aim is to make it as international as possible here, as it is there in South Africa."
As a former resident of Morocco, Ian informed me that the only thing that unified the Moroccans and the Spaniards who share their country is, you guessed it, soccer, er….football.
The first game kicks off on June 11, but the real action begins on June 12 at 2:30 PM when the United States takes on England.
The World Cup only comes around once every four years, so you have until July 11 to join the rest of the world and enjoy the games at a local venue.
.
It is a small world after all.
The Future Needs All of Us (to play)
Tommy Allen, Lifestyle Editor
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