We are all not that different. Sometimes I forget that. And then I meet someone from half way around the world whose life is different in so many ways from the life I have lived so far and the experiences I have had but in the end we are all human and our experiences as humans are eerily similar.
A few weeks ago I was fortunate enough to meet two Rwandan Reggae musicians at a friends house. They grew up at a time where their country was in the midst of genocide and I can only imagine the horrors they have seen countless times.
But then you realize that despite the differences in the paths our lives have taken we have the same feelings and struggle with similar things every day.
The conversation that lead me to start thinking about how even worlds away our humanity links us was about dating and the trials involving members of the opposite sex and it was amazing how our observations and insights about being young and single were almost exactly the same.
This human link is what we need to remember in this increasingly globalized world. The genocide in Darfur is can not be brushed off because it is a world away and we should not forget he millions of starving people because they are not in our immediate world. Half way around the world everyone experiences pain, and hunger and joy in the same way.
Remembering that we are all human will hopefully make us all more sensitive to all of our Fellow humans.
4 comments:
I love it. Especially considering that it's coming from a fellow Republican. :) you rock!
I thought this was really moving, and a thought process that most people never even go through. It's easy to ignore problems happening elsewhere because they aren't in our faces - I know I usually don't think about most crises going on outside of America. Realizing we are all human and experience emotion similarly is so important for our generation, and I am really glad you wrote about it!
This goes along with how important it is to travel in order to escape a pigeonholed perspective and realize that there are numerous hardships for others around the world.
Elizabeth,
I'm a producer at The Takeaway public radio program at WNYC in New York. I'm producing a segment for our show tomorrow about Americans still unconvinced, or undecided, by President Obama's push for healthcare reform. I wonder whether you might be interested in joining the conversation.
if so, please email me: lieber.matt@gmail.com
Best regards,
Matt Lieber
(September 8, 2009- a while after this post, I know)
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