How Globalization Affected My Family

Global Issues and I

Globalization. Some see it as a good thing, others not so much. It is empowering to some, but can be devastating to others. Although the term is relatively new, its meaning goes back to the beginning of humankind. The general meaning of this term is process of interaction and integration among people of the world. This today can be interpreted as communication among nations or people from across the planet. Also this can be seen in the form as present day immigration. This entire process is driven by global trade. It is the power of foreign markets and supply-demand in different nations that pushes globalization on such a large scale. There are signs of it all around us and I see it in my everyday life. The effects of …show more content…
Both of my grandparents on my mother 's side of the family were living in Italy at the time of the second world war. Living in poverty my grandfather was drafted into the Italian army at a young age, forced to serve under the Mussolini dictatorship which was allied with the Axis powers at the time. After the Allied occupation of Italy, the war in the nation was over. My grandfathers and grandmothers families both in shambles as a result. After roughly 20 years of trying to rebuild what they originally had, they decided to look for a better life in Canada, and immigrated here in the early 60 's. As a result my mother met my father in Canada, which is the reason I am here. Without my grandparent making the decision to come to Canada, I would not be here. The process of immigration is what allowed my Italian family to be thousands of kilometers away from Italy. A similar series of events occurred on my father 's side also. This is just a personal example however, this happens on a much larger scale. Take my hometown, the city of Windsor for example. There is very diverse group of people who live in the city, however I want to focus on just the Italian presence. The amount of Italian immigrants following World War II in Windsor are very large, so much so that there is a “little Italy” in the city, located downtown, also known as Erie Street. Although this is just the instance of my …show more content…
It was brings the entire world together and without it life would not be the same. There are literally millions of examples of this, but I would like to focus on one that is more focused on my own personal life, and that is my place of work, Costco. At Costco I am fortunate to work in the merchandising department as merchandiser. I have also worked in seven other departments there, where I have been able to experience the diverse community that is Windsor, but the merchandising department is by far the best example of globalization. My shift starts at 4:30 am, long before the store opens, it is during this time that the warehouse is stocked and prepared for the day. I am fortunate enough that through my job, I am able to see the amount of different products that are available to us on a daily basis. Costco is the largest retailer in the city, supplying 90% of households in the city with some sort of product. We get products from all over the world, in shipments that are extremely large. When dealing with these different products, you see that most of them have places of origin. Although most of the non food products come from China, the diversity there is astonishing. For example, during the course of my eight and a half hour shift, I will come into contact with products from at least a hundred nations or more. Think back a hundred years ago when this was not physically possible. I do not think we could