We are all connected
One thing I love about Marin county, CA is the Rafael theater, an independent theater where even Sean Penn and George Lucas are seen enjoying the latest in Cannes Film festival winners and French films that truly bring out the emotions of life. Last night we sat in a full theater watching Tom Shadyac’s newest documentary “I Am.” Tom is better known for his great directing of Ace Ventura and The Nutty Professor, but this time after a life threatening accident he set off to ponder the great questions of the world.
The film itself was visually a bit boring with interviews, clips of old movies and photos and his traipsing around the world. Yet, his message, receiving a round of applause at the end of the film (only in Marin) was well worth the entrance fee. The questions asked of great leaders, thinkers, writers, scientists, and researchers is nothing less than, “What is wrong with our world and what can we do about it? The one major theme that was repeated by all those he interviewed was the evolution of our scientific of human kind and how this story is showing repeatable scientific proof that everything in the world, everyone in the world, and all living things (i.e. people, animals, plants) are connected. Many of us instinctually get glimmers of this at times and wonder what makes us cry when we hear of disasters in other countries or see photos of starving children we don’t know. The answer lies in the research that shows what we do as individuals has affect on everything else. Yes in deed, a butterfly flapping her wings in South America affects the weather in another part of the world.
It is possible that Tom is making leaps in conclusions and he chose people to interview who support his own theories, but his point is not to be dismissed.
To illustrate this point I drew a graphic listing all the people I have interacted with or talked to over the last month. Like those old games we used to play as a kid where you connect the dots, I drew a line between people to see how I met them or whom they knew. The results were an intricate diagram that looked similar to a grid of San Francisco; everyone was connected somehow to me and other people.
It started to make me think even more and recognize that our connections are at least six degrees of separation and do have an affect on all of us. If we are to help make this world a better place to live in, we have to realize we are all connected and all of our actions do affect others. So for today, spread kindness, make someone smile by smiling first and hug lots of people today. That’s a great way to start to make the world a better place to live in.