Winner of 2004 Hart House Lecture Essay Contest

 Judges: Margaret MacMillian, James Orbinski, Vincent Tovell

^{New Renaissance (excerpt)}

     In her inspiring lecture, Ms. Jennifer Welsh discussed the idea of  the new concept of citizenship and how it relates to a Canadian identity. One of the things  that strike me most is her mentioning of the parallels of world today  and the medieval Europe that proceeded Renaissance. Renaissance is an age that offered some greatest figures in arts and sciences and an age that foresaw the upcoming social, political and culture progress in the next several centuries. Yet the greatest achievement of Renaissance are not its many discoveries, inventions or direct historical impact but its ideas, most importantly, the idea of Humanism and the idea of Universal man. Men of  the Middle Ages, when an early version of  globalization occurred ( as mentioned by Ms. Welsh ), discovered the diversity of  human civilizations. They looked for a common ground and they found it in the idea of Humanism and learning and value of the antiquity. Enlightened by the ancient sages, the whole of knowledge, or rather, the ultimate truth, was considered embraceable or even seemed to be within reach at the moment. Leon Alberti even pronounced, “ a man can do all things if he will.”

      When indeed the development of science and technology in modern times allows us to do many things that are probably not even imaginable to the great minds of Renaissance, such as those of Alberti’s or Leonardo’s, yet modern man more or less finds himself once again at a loss --- for one thing, he doesn’t necessarily know clearly what ‘he will’.

       The new inspiration can only come from  a greater world view, a more sophisticated system of knowledge and most importantly, an affinity of sense of culture heritage among different peoples, being Europeans, American, Chinese or Indian. All these depend on an unprecedented kind of global mobility and co-operation.

       The new concept of citizenship can be understood as a mechanism that promotes and nurtures the spiritual and cultural globalization. The idea  behind this mechanism is clear, simple and grand: a new Renaissance that is on a truly global scale and embraces the whole humanity.  Canada can be in the center of this experimental movement exactly because she is willing to embrace members from all communities in the world and at the same time retains scientific vigor and democratic values she inherits from the great Western civilization.

     Being a Canadian citizen is being a participant of this great experiment.

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