You live in the age of interdependence. Borders don't count for much or stop much, good or bad, anymore.
Interpretation
We are all interconnected in today's world, and geographical boundaries are becoming less significant.
This quote by William J. Clinton emphasizes the idea that in the modern era, the interdependence among nations and peoples is profound. The significance of borders has diminished in the face of globalization, as challenges and benefits transcend national boundaries, highlighting the need for cooperation and understanding in addressing shared issues.
In practice
During a lecture on globalization, you could start with this quote to emphasize our interconnectedness.
You know, there was a recent poll which said that young people in the generation of the students here felt it was far more likely that they would see a UFO than that they would draw Social Security... It's very important you understand this. Once you understand this, you realize this is not an episode from the X Files, and you're not more likely to see a UFO if you do certain specific things.
When we got organized as a country, [and] wrote a fairly radical Constitution, with a radical Bill of Rights, giving radical amounts of freedom to Americans, it was assumed that Americans who had that freedom would use it responsibly...When personal freedom is being abused, you have to move to limit it.
For too long we've been told about 'us' and 'them.' Each and every election we see a new slate of arguments and ads telling us that 'they' are the problem, not 'us.' But there can be no 'them' in America. There's only us.
There is a huge body of business evidence now showing that energy savings give better service at lower cost with higher profit. We have to tear down barriers to successful markets and we have to create incentives to enter them.
Demand that your government pays more attention. It's immoral that people in Africa die like flies of diseases that no one dies of in the United States. And the more disease there is, the more political unrest there will be, leading to more Darfurs, which the U.S. will have to pay to fix.
I was not elected to produce a pile of vetoes.
Racism is a much more clandestine, much more hidden kind of phenomenon, but at the same time it's perhaps far more terrible than it's ever been.
Let's stop 'tolerating' or 'accepting' difference, as if we're so much better for not being different in the first place. Instead, let's celebrate difference, because in this world it takes a lot of guts to be different.
True masters are those who've chosen to make a life rather than a living.
In the truest sense, freedom cannot be bestowed; it must be achieved.
There is but one truly serious philosophical problem and that is suicide.
Is there any point to which you would wish to draw my attention?' To the curious incident of the dog in the night-time.' The dog did nothing in the night-time.' That was the curious incident,' remarked Sherlock Holmes.
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