The borderless world and ham radio as a community

National boundary is losing its meaning more and more nowadays. Because the economy is more globalized even though this globalization won't necessarily make all of us happier. At least, in the point of economical view, we could not get along within a country by ourselves. And the issues of environment and of natural resources also require us to deal with them across the border. The religions or races are located across the borders in many places. There could still be struggles and disputes across the borders anywhere as you know. The worst aspect in this borderlessness is in the terrorism. We should go on living in this borderlessness, which we have never experienced in the history.

Where could we find our hope in this borderless age? One of the answers might be in the presence of community. Sociology tells us a community is a functional concept which is defined the following
characteristics;
1)Everyone recognizes each other there.
2)The relationship among the members is long lasting.
We are living in a variety of communities. That is, we are situated in the concentric circles of various communities. Family, local area, workers at a company, believers in a religion and so forth. Those communities overlap each other and tend to make people related and united tightly.

Do I look it too much birght side of the situation if I advocate ham radio could form one of those communities over the borders in the world? I have thought of this possibility for a long time. If we have a real community across the borders, we might be able to overcome the nationalism and the wrong side of the borderlessness. At least, ham radio could be more hopeful than the internet, where we could scarcely recognize each other in the unstable relationship. We should reflect if ham radio society already could be such a community or not.

I have received an e mail from Mike WB4ZKA. It was a really pleasant mail to me. I won't brag about what he has said about me. But I felt there is a guy who enjoys ham radio on CW in the same way as I do. Isn't it an expression of a community across the border?  With Mike's permission, I would quote his mail to me here;

Shin-san,

You and I have chatted on CW before, most recently last year.  You impressed me
with your willingness to stretch beyond the normal "599 73" DX contact.

I want you to know how much I appreciate you on CW.  I've heard you put American
hams to bed late at (U.S.) night with "sweet dreams", I've heard you in my
pre-dawn hours when I can't sleep, and I've heard you in my afternoons (your
pre-dawn hours when you don't seem to sleep) chatting at a lively gallop with
others in the U.S.

You discuss international economics, dog care, manufacturing strengths, and all
sorts of other topics competently and fluidly.  You seem to know everyone, and
many hams I talk to on CW all know you.  That's quite an accomplishment.

I sometimes sleep out in the small travel trailer in my back yard that houses my
HF CW station.  Normally, I leave the receiver on 40m turned down low.  More
than once, I've been pleased in my sleep to hear your signal whispering in
around 7026 kHz.  In my sleep, I can copy your call sign.

And it is the call sign of a respected friend.  You bring pleasure to my heart.

I don't mean to offend your Japanese sensibilities, but you have a bigger impact
on the CW landscape than your logbook shows.

-- Mike