Marmalade Sunsets: My interview with Mark Lovett, Founder, Global Patriot

At first glance of the website titled Patriotism without Borders, I was somewhat captivated as I speculated what the author, Mark Lovett, is striving to achieve with this concept of a Global Patriot. Mark has a unique passion in his orchestration and assimilation of this thought – his completely calm demeanor entices you to want to see into his vision of actualizing a world unrestricted of the biases we have been preconditioned to accept as we assume our “roles” in society. Could it be possible to traverse a world where all impediments around religion, nationality, race, gender and ideology could be defeated, and we could actually prevail as patriots of a global community? A world where we could embrace each others’ differences as opposed to encaging ourselves in square boxes with a neat white label, titled, “Classification”, a place where we could appreciate each others’ variances by developing our own characters, a world where we could discern opinions from a global perspective while promoting empathy?

As I read through Mark’s blog posts ranging from themes around Human Rights, the Environment, Health issues, Social Justice, etc, I am enamored by his ability to coalesce like-minded people around one table and strategize avenues in developing an international community of Global Patriots with very clear alternatives to ongoing challenges. His ability to educate and expose to the world, that as citizens of a global arena, we have an obligation to contribute our global skills to a community which is acutely lacking of some very basic needs.

I wonder, that if we had an opportunity to look a refugee child in the eyes, of a boy who just walked for four days across a desert and near virtual collapse from heat exhaustion, could we become more tolerant people; if we could gaze upon the smile of a young orphan girl who has just read her first book and can go to sleep at ease as she knows she will likely have a meal to greet her as she rises in the morning, could we become more compassionate; if we could sing and dance around a beach-fire with a group of backpackers, beer in one hand and English/Spanish dictionary in the other, could we become more receptive people? Imagine just how much we could achieve…

When I am out in the field, and I am interviewing a family of six people who all live in a one-bed roomed house, one hammock to sleep in because they can’ afford a bed and no air conditioning with a humidity factor of 80%, it’s almost impossible for me to think about the next coffee shop I’ll be buying my super grande vanilla chai latte. When this family is compassionately grateful for the fact that they actually have a one-bed roomed house with a cement floor, as opposed to a dust floor, leading to all kinds of respiratory diseases with their children, when they invite me into their house and offer me their last cup of water to drink as they sense my antipathy to the humidity, I am unconditionally humbled, and I realize that I can learn so much from these people, who, despite their inevitable poverty-stricken existence, can push through these aversions and still paint a smile on their creased, yet angelic faces, as they have one less child struggling with yet another respiratory disease. Imagine just how much we could achieve…

For more information on Mark Lovett’s Global Patriot community, you can view www.globalpatriot.com, as well as Global Patriot on Facebook. Mark can also be reached at converse@globalpatriot.com

To see our video introduction, see http://www.travelvolunteersearch.blogspot.com

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