With Paris, one of the world’s most treasured cities of art, culture, and love going up in flames because of rioting and the battle between Israelis and Palestinians still continuing even after the much publicized Israeli pull out from Gaza, it looks like we have not made much progress in attaining peace across the globe since WWII ended in 1945.
The unassuming Cosmopolitan house at 307 East John Street gives you a little taste of what the world would be like if we did make a bit more progress in attaining peace. Every face of every color, with a multitude of languages and backgrounds all welcomed in this one house. This is where youths and professionals from across the globe start talking and realizing that they have more in common than differences. The most striking aspect of this is that they are there simply because they want to be. They desire to step out of their own comfort zone and explore the comfort zones of others.
Members of the Cosmopolitan Club give selflessly to promote this severely undervalued cause. The residents of the Cosmopolitan house open up their home every week to hold coffee hours and monthly dinners that showcase a different country each time. At these gatherings, students share where they are from and what life is like in their country, all within an atmosphere of genuine interest and acceptance.
Amazingly enough, it is not just the students who organize and get involved in this cross-cultural exchange. Working and retired professionals from the Cosmopolitan alumni and the community come to help cook food and serve it at the monthly dinners. Thus, you have a whole age range of people coming forward to facilitate and promote more cross-cultural understanding. Indeed, it is only fitting that the Cosmopolitan Club was awarded Champaign’s International Humanitarian award this year. If anything, I may perhaps even venture to say that the award was long overdue.
The little that I have experienced of the Cosmopolitan Club so far has greatly impressed me. During the Halloween party, I met the German pope, four male Argentinean nuns, the Polish Batman, and the American Dalai Lama, to name a few. In all honesty, I met more “celebrities” in those three or four hours than I have in my whole life thus far! On a more serious note, at the coffee hours and dinners, I have had the privilege of making friends and exchanging ideas with people from more countries than I can keep track of. The continued diversity and warmth I experience every time I attend a Cosmopolitan Club event never ceases to amaze me.
Every week, news headlines speak of continued violence and destruction in communities that feel they are too different to live in harmony with each other. Every week, the Cosmopolitan Club bravely shows how it is possible and indeed, truly beautiful when the reverse happens. Just as the way the world should be. Thank you Cosmopolitan Club.
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Denise is a Master student in Forestry and one of our future residents next year. She is originally from Singapore, has studied in Toronto and worked in China, and just enjoys her Cosmo experience. |