We are all connected

“It’s a small world.” Small, and ever-shrinking. We hear that a lot these days.

The reality, of course, is that the Earth is enormous, especially relative to our tiny corners of the planet. Even though we can now travel just about anywhere on the planet within a number of hours (instead of the months it used to take), the planet is huge, and much of it is very sparsely populated.

What I do believe, however, is that we are all connected to each other, at one level or another.

Within our communities, especially in small towns, we have multiple connections with each other – through church, work, government, hobbies, neighborhoods, and more.

We have connections with friends and family members who live further away, either in other small towns or in cities. We may have connections to loved ones in other countries.

These connections go way back, though. If we go all the way back, to the start of mankind on the planet, we all originated somewhere in Africa and migrated from there to literally the ends of the Earth. None of us can be aware of those connections, but they are there.

More realistically, we probably feel ties to our ancestors’ homelands, whether there have been decades or generations of distance. (I get a little twinge when Sweden wins a sporting competition, for instance, even though I don’t know any of my living relatives in Sweden.)

I have been somehow “pulled” toward the Russian language, and study of that area, since before high school. I have felt an affinity for Ukraine since I started making pysanky (Ukrainian Easter eggs) at about age 10. It turns out that what is now Ukraine was once a Viking outpost for trade, possibly started by some distant ancestors of mine.

A distant connection, and unprovable, but a connection that I feel strongly nonetheless.

The moral of this winding story is that we are truly connected to each other and to the world, whether it’s by choice, by geography, or by some ancient familial connection back when the “world” that we knew was much smaller than today.

It’s just one more reason to be kind to one another. We have choices every day: choose kindness. (And don’t forget to be kind to yourself as well.)