Garry Davis is 89-years-old and he’s a Man of the Universe and a Word Citizen.  Garry was born the privileged child of world-famous big band orchestra leader Meyer Davis, he trained as a student of drama at Carnegie Institute of Technology (now Carnegie Mellon University) and that intrinsic familial wealth and fame — along with the cherished opportunity for excellent education  — allowed Garry to live a life of the mind.  Garry’s biggest claim to fame — or insanity — is the notion that we are all citizens of the world, and not tethered to nations, and to prove that point, he created the Word Passport in order to test his belief.

The World Passport sprang out of the World Citizen/World Government movement Garry started in 1949 after becoming a disillusioned bomber pilot during World War II.

Ever since that watershed moment of self-discovery, Garry has been warring against the carving up of the world and its resources.  Garry believes we are all in this world together and that we should cooperatively govern while sharing resources.

Here’s a video of Garry making his case for a World Passport as he tries to re-enter the USA from Canada — it’s funny, and self-defeating of his entire argument, when one of the border guards obviously recognizes Garry and waives him through after Garry said he’s in a hurry and “doesn’t want to miss his 3pm tee time” for golf:

After viewing that video of Garry — what’s your take on him?  Is he right?  Is he a mad SuperGenius in pursuit of the purity of nothingness?  Or is he an idealistic, spoiled, little rich kid who never grew up?  Or is Garry a wizened old sage who speaks the unearthly truth to an invisible, but repressive, power?

3 Comments

  1. Kooky, David! Given his military service I can’t think of him as spoiled. I do admire his goal, even if the price is a bit high for a ‘passport’ that wouldn’t get recognized anywhere…

    1. David Boles – New York City – David Boles was born in Nebraska and holds an MFA from the Oscar Hammerstein II Center for Theatre Studies at Columbia University in the City of New York. He is an author, dramatist, editor, publisher, and teacher who writes across the live stage, print, radio, television, film, and the web. With more than 50 books in print, David continues to write 2MM words a year and has authored over 25K articles. He is a member of the Dramatists Guild, the Authors Guild, and PEN America, and founded The United Stage advocacy platform on the principle that playwrights have a duty to direct their own work. Read the Prairie Voice Archive at Boles.com | Buy his books at David Boles Books Writing & Publishing at BolesBooks.com | Study with Script Professor at ScriptProfessor.com | Touch American Sign Language mastery at Hardcore ASL at HardcoreASL.com | Explore the Human Meme podcast at HumanMeme.com | Train with Boles Bells at BolesBells.com.
      David W. Boles says:

      Garry claims his passports has been internationally accepted around the world — though I have a feeling a lot of that acceptance was before 9/11. I can’t imagine moving forward that the idea will last very long without Garry’s direct, daily, intervention.

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