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For the most part, the United States of America is in a good place…geographically speaking. We’re fortunate to have neighbors to the north and south in the way of Canada and Mexico respectively with whom we have modern peacetime borders.

Despite the derision that may lurk in the hearts of some of our less enlightened fellow American citizens regarding the cultural relevance of Canada, our northern neighbor has been our number one trading partner, totaling 561.55 billion dollars in imports/exports for the year 2007, according to the U.S. Census Bureau list of U.S. top ten trading partners. (That dismissive jingoism, by the by, seems especially misplaced these days when the American dollar, historically valued higher than the Canadian dollar, is now at virtual parity in recent currency exchange rates.)

And despite our current grumblings about illegal immigration regarding our neighbors to the south, Mexico was our number three trading partner totaling 347.34 billion dollars in imports/exports for the year 2007. (China falls into the two spot at 386.75 billion dollars, in case you were wondering, although that may be already changing this year with China passing Canada.)

Despite these significant numbers, it’s still sometimes too easy to take our modern peacetime borders with these two sovereign countries for granted. With the addition of the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans buffering our coasts, we’re a relatively snug country from a national security stand point.

The sobering reality of the world is that not every country is so lucky. Take for example the disputed region of Kashmir that is the source of constant diplomatic and military tension between the countries of Pakistan and India–not a comforting prospect for two nuclear powers. Or take Israel, where the country has normalized relations with only two out of the four surrounding Arab states and ongoing military tensions with the other two (not to mention the Palestinian conflict occurring within its own disputed borders). Or consider the DMZ, arguably the most militarized border in the world, that divides South Korea and North Korea, extant since the cease-fire of the Korean War in 1953.

Even the U.S.A. is not without its own history of border troubles by way of the War of 1812 and the Mexican-American War (both wars due at least in some part to America’s aggressive policies in territorial expansion). But I digress.

Even though at present we benefit from the circumstance of our geography, there is a downside to our good fortune. Our “snugness” can too easily transform into a parochial “smugness.” We gain a certain degree of comfort at the cost of blunting our awareness of pan-cultural matters. Our geography translates into a mental isolation: out of sight is out of mind. It seems we need more than a little work to overcome our lack of awareness in global affairs.

Last week, an article by Ms. Patricia Cohen in The New York Times entitled “Dumb and Dumber: Are Americans Hostile to Knowledge?” addressed this particular problem of the mainstream American consciousness.

The article references a global knowledge gaff made by American Idol’s Kellie Pickler during a celebrity edition of the game show called “Are You Smarter Than a 5th Grader?” The title is more than self-explanatory in outlining the show’s basic premise. You can view the relevant segment yourself in the video clip below and then indulge in a moment of schadenfreude.

Now in fairness to the geographically challenged Ms. Pickler (and let’s not even mention the show’s host Jeff Foxworthy dropping an entire syllable when pronouncing “Hungary”), I wonder how many Americans who enjoined in a collective jeering of smug superiority could have effectively answered the same question themselves? To gauge your own geographic literacy, try out this brief geography quiz, derived from the 2006 National Geographic-Roper survey. Click on the “Start Quiz” button once your on the appropriate page.

Just for the record, I managed to make it through all seven questions with a perfect score, but must admit to a bit of sweating when trying to properly locate Afghanistan on the map.

In relation to the Budapest question that Ms. Pickler failed to answer (and thus provide some transient fodder for the viral video community), I did happen to know that Budapest was in Hungary (not to mention that Europe was a continent, not a country). I also happen to know that Hungary’s linguistic lineage falls into the same hypothetical language group of Ural-Altaic languages, which includes in its family tree such seemingly diverse languages as Finnish, Korean, and Turkish.

But cultural acumen is relative. In case I should give the appearance of touting my own innate superiority in all matters Hungarian, in all honesty, if someone were to start pressing me for the country’s historical background regarding the Austro-Hungarian Empire, I’d sadly have to confess my knowledge grossly wanting.

But what I do know about topics beyond these United States I must attribute to an accumulation of learned experiences through reading, traveling, and getting to know people of varied cultural dispositions and disciplines. Without those experiences, I doubt I would have made it through those seven questions with my dignity intact. And even then, I will always have more to learn. It’s a wide, wide world out there with a deep, deep history.

Hence we’re back to the problem of the isolation of Americans, both literally and figuratively, relative to the rest of the rest of the globe. So what’s the solution to end our American navel-gazing? If you can travel to a foreign country, do it. Travel provides an immediacy of experience that confronts your sense and sensibility with customs and perspectives at rich variance from our own. Unfortunately, travel to other countries isn’t always an economically feasible option.

Even without an airplane ticket to overseas destinations, there are plenty of means to bring the world into your local experience. Explore various ethnic cuisines, whether cooking at home or eating out; learn how to salsa or raks sharki (belly dance); listen to some Portuguese fado or Buddhist Theravada chanting; take up a foreign language; socialize with people of various ethnicities or nationalities; and the list goes on.

Of course, there is only so much personally lived experience an individual can cultivate, only so much access to realms beyond the local life he or she lives. That’s where enriching one’s reading repertoire becomes vital. It’s obviously not the immediate experience of traveling abroad or even eating at your local ethnic restaurant, but most of our knowledge necessarily comes through second-hand experiences, and often reading can provide a level of analytical understanding not always possible with direct experiences. Words are access to the world at large. Keep tabs on international news. Read books about other cultures written by authors hailing from different countries. Look at a map for reasons other than directions to meet your friends at the local bar.

Really, what does navel-gazing get us except cramped necks? The poet William Wordsworth famously exhorted that the “world is too much with us,” to which I might counter, “we are too much without the world.” The better state of mind for we Americans to approach the 21st century–in the arts, in business, or in diplomacy–is to nurture our understanding of our fellow global citizens. And if for no other reason, we should do so in the interest of avoiding getting caught out on a nationally televised game show not knowing that Budapest is the capital of Hungary (not “Hungry”).

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