2024/Zion-

The American Military is truly a worldwide superpower. Having troops in every continent, the US maintains its control over what happens in a relatively large amount of places. Due to the US being so global, it is hard to fathom how kids in the US can waste their lives away, stuck in the bubble of their country, how lucky us military kids truly are, and how much we can take it for granted.

Being non-military is both a blessing and a curse. You get the freedom to be who you want outside of the military, the privilege to be yourself and choose jobs you desire, yet you lose out on the power to explore outside of just your own culture. This leads to a lot of ethnocentrism within Americans, and is actively making us less aware about the world around us. Without being exposed to other cultures, Americans can become so self centered and foolish that we lead ourselves into a Nationalist spiral that we cannot escape. The belief that America is the best, and what’s worse for younger people, that America is the only country in our world. The limitations America has put upon itself by not truly giving its people a chance to embrace other cultures only impede our power as a country, resulting in our title of global superpower to fade.

As a military kid, we are able to explore the world inside and outside the US. We are able to be surrounded by others, not limiting ourselves to the barrier that the US typically forces on others. If you are able to explore outside of America as a military kid, you get exposed to things most people who live there never get to see or experience. The military provides such a great opportunity to those who have it, and its ability to prevent ethnocentrism is not only great, but also it provides a fun and interesting way to be surrounded with other kinds of people. This is one of the greatest things about being a military child, the explorative feel you get when traveling from place to place.

Despite this, kids my age, older and younger are still able to waste their lives away, not experiencing everything that other cultures have to offer. I, for one, fall victim to this, as though I live in Japan, I have not yet fully embraced the culture of Japan, nor seen the sights I need to. It happens to be where people who have lived in most of this world’s continents can still be so single-minded and weak to other cultures. If we are going to get experiences like this, we should use them to their fullest to explore other cultures and become stronger because of them, not refuse to strengthen ourselves when given once in a lifetime experiences that us military kids get almost daily.

In summary, don’t waste your life when you have a life this incredible. You shouldn’t lower your standards to be ethnocentric, you should enjoy the world you get to travel and explore, and never take it for granted. There is a reason you, as a military child are able to be here, wherever you are, and live your life, so you should take that to its fullest extent, and not miss any of what life has in store.