The news has been very interesting these days, but maybe there is too much news about America. Of course, I like America, and maybe you like America too. There are some interesting things that come from America, and there are some interesting places to visit in America too. Maybe you have friends from America. I do too.

But America is only one country in our world. There are 196 countries in our world, and we need to include Taiwan in that number. That is a lot of countries. Every country in the world has its own feeling. Every country in the world has its own flag, its own national song, its own art, its own music, its unique food and culture, and many times its own language.

America is one country. It is a big country and it is a rich country, but it is not the only country on the planet earth.

Recently, the American president decided that America will not be in the Paris Accord. The Paris Accord is an agreement with countries all over the world to help protect our earth. The Paris Accord is a plan to reduce pollution to our planet and to make the environment safer for the future. We must have the Paris Accord to give a clean and safe planet to young people and the next generation. Almost every country understands this important agreement. Only Syria and Nicaragua did not join. Even North Korea joined the Paris Accord! So, it is quite unbelievable that America would not believe that our earth is important to save.

Luckily, not one man can change the whole world, and we have time to make plans for the future without America. Maybe, this is a good chance for the other 195 countries of the world to make better connections, to deepen our communication, and to make a wonderful cooperation.

I am from Canada, and you are from Japan. We are both citizens of countries with a lot of culture, power, education, creativity, and interesting things we can share with each other. If we have problems in our world, we can join with other countries in Europe, South America, Africa, and Asia to make a better future.

Maybe for too long America has been in a center position. Maybe we need a new kind of relationship where countries like Japan and Canada can make a new society of countries to protect our world, and to help each other. We can make a deeper connection and a better way to work together.

Of course we hope that America will change its leadership in the future, but we cannot wait too long for that. There are problems that the world has now, and we need to be moving continually forward for a cleaner and safer planet, for a world that feeds everyone, and for a future world that we can give to the next generation after us.

To be a citizen of the world means that we need to appreciate our own culture and country, but also to find chances to work positively with other countries. What will Japan and Canada and Europe and Africa and South America and other countries in Asia and Oceania do together in the future?

Let’s do what we can to make our future, both here and all over the world, better, safer, and cleaner.