We’d all like to hold the whole world in our hands. Pretty sure there’s even a catchy song along those lines. But since an object with a roughly 25,000 mile circumference might be too large for even the hands of the woman Jerry Seinfeld was dating in the “Man Hands” episode, perhaps owning a globe is the next best thing.

Yes, a globe, that standard of every elementary school classroom across the country. In fact, for many, that might be the last time they actually touched or even took a close look at a globe, and that’s a shame. Because a globe offers a perspective of humanity, the world, and our individual roles in it, that is hard to find in any other format. A globe should be a requirement in every home, and there are many reasons why.

The first obvious characteristic of a globe is that it is  a wonderful educational tool, especially when it is kept out in full view and accessible so it can be referred to frequently. Watching or reading the news and a story comes up covering an event in some part of the world besides your own? Go take a quick glance at the globe to get a feel for what and where the story is taking place. Besides being an obvious antidote for the lack of geographic knowledge so many people seem to possess nowadays, looking at a globe and learning from it offers a chance to get a feel for just what our world really looks like. Why do certain countries get along, or more likely, not get along? Well, go check out the neighborhood they live in. See what borders they share, what the climate and other geographically related features influence the people living there. So much of human history has been determined by the shape of the land and water on this planet, having a better understanding of it all can only help when trying to understand the complexities of the world we live in.

Another obvious benefit that you’ll derive from owning a globe and gaining regular familiarity with it over time is that you’ll realize just how vast this planet is. Look at the area you live in, and note the distances to some places that are nearby that perhaps you’ve visited. They may have seemed far away, taking that 5 hour drive to visit friends or relatives. But when viewing it within the scale of the globe it suddenly doesn’t seem very far at all. Friends just posted on Facebook that they’re travelling to a far away exotic location? Go see where it is exactly and get a feel for where they are. Just read an article that referred to China stirring the pot in the South China Sea and threatening Taiwan and the Philippines? Hmm, what does that really look like? Go check your globe quickly and get a much deeper understanding than the TV, internet or magazine story can tell on its own.

There’s one other great reason for having a globe handy. It’s kind of a challenge, or an exercise everyone should try. Go take your globe, close your eyes, and give it a good spin. Randomly put your finger down and stop the globe, and see where your finger lands. If you’re in the ocean, try again. But when you do land somewhere on terra firma, note the location. Unfortunately, it’s almost certainly going to be in a country that at this very moment is either at war or fighting some level of military insurgence. Or where freedom and democracy are far from the reality. Where tolerance and acceptance are not practiced. Where the standard of living is well below that which is experienced here in this country. Where people are often hungry, where they are regularly either too cold or too hot. Where the divide between the haves and the have-nots is wide, and the haves are usually the ones with the political and military power. Where justice is hard to come by, and women’s rights and the rights of those in the ethnic and religious and sexual-orientation minorities are often non-existent. Where death often comes at young ages, and is commonplace. Where it’s witnessed regularly and publicly by the average person, as opposed to America where the site of a deceased individual is extremely rare and almost always confined to the insides of a medical facility. Where economic opportunity is extremely limited. Where their government’s ability to help its citizens in the aftermath of natural disasters simply does not exist. Yeah, that globe can teach a lot of things, a stronger appreciation for what we all have here in America being just one of them.