It’s amazing to me how people band together in times of tragedy. We see the big picture suddenly, and difference in opinion, lifestyle, belief systems and more just melt away. We recognize that we are humans—encountering the same joy and the same suffering. We are the same.
If only we could hold onto that perspective.
A friend at work was telling me recently about a BBC special where the host of Top Gear goes up in a U-2 spy plane. Flying at the edge of the earth’s atmosphere, he finds himself on the verge of tears. He says it is both thrilling and humbling, and that if every person in the world could experience what he had, it would profoundly affect religious and political views.
This planet is ours to keep and care for. We’re all stuck here together on it living overlapping lives. Coexisting with each other and with nature. It’s our job to maintain that coexistence. It’s our job to protect it and make it better for future generations. It’s our job to band together, whether in the face of tragedy or not. I wish there were a way for everyone to see how fragile and precious life here on this earth is. And I wish we’d start taking better care of it and one another.
4 comments:
It would be nice to remember and stay connected all the time, the world would be a much better place. Maybe we would stop having so many terrible things happen if we would stop forgetting.
It's hard to break habits. Especially if people don't think those habits are harmful. It's unfortunate. If you hold out your hand from CA, I'll reach out and grab it from IL. That's a start, right?
This is going to sound silly, but I often think of that moment in Apollo 13 where they can see the Earth through the window and it's small enough to cover with a thumb. It really is so small, and so precious.
Yeah, all us monkeys stick together when the tree is burning, but when the fire is out, we go right back to our standard behavior: hoarding bananas and flinging our caca at each other.
Sad, really.
Hey, are you lookin at my bananas? Get yer own!
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