Small Paths to Far Off Places

Throughout my years of travel I have found that the most beautiful and heartbreaking part of the world in which we live is our interconnectedness. No matter how hard we humans try to live a life of isolation we are unable to do it. More and more each day the acts at one end of the world effect people on the other. I am not speaking merely of world oil prices and the effects of globalization, although the statement is true there as well. But rather I am thinking of the interconnectedness of human individuals.

Over a week ago a plane crash in Pakistan took the life of my friend's fathers. A year ago I would have never even heard of this crash and it would not have affected my life in any way. Now I hear of this accident and my eyes fill with tears and my heart breaks knowing the pain and sorrow that my friend and her family must be going through. I am frustrated by the fact that while I can get this information in a heartbeat, I am still separated physically by thousands of miles of space. Des[ite my frustration, my emails and phone calls offer me an opportunity that was not available a mere 15 years ago…a chance to reach out in a small way to someone I love.

This is the pain and the beauty of our global body, when one part hurts we all feel it. I would not trade the joy and happiness of my relationships around the world for anything, but the price to pay is that now the bombs in Gaza, the killings in Iraq, and the plane crashes in Pakistan are apart of me in a way they never where before. We should all be thankful for this, despite the pain it may cause. It allows us to remember those around the world in our hearts and prayers and hopefully moves us towards action to ease the pain…even if it can only be a phone call or an email.

I love you Saman, we all do