We Are Connected - We Are Not Alone

[NanceGreggs]

As you read this, a homeless man in Detroit who is hungry for food is thinking about someone in Guantanamo who is hungry for justice, who is thinking about someone in Iraq who is hungry for news about a missing loved one, who is thinking about someone in Darfur who is hungry for food.

As you read this, somewhere a Muslim is kneeling to pray in Arabic, a rabbi is greeting the dawn with a prayer in Hebrew, a priest is celebrating the first Mass of the day – and they are all praying for the same thing: Peace.

As you read this, a girl in Egypt is strumming her guitar, as an old man in Newfoundland is adding the sound of his fiddle, as a boy in New Orleans is thumping out the bass line, as a chorus in South Africa is joining their voices to a song which will eventually be heard everywhere.

As you read this, a firefighter is risking his life to save others without knowing their politics, a doctor is in his twelfth hour of surgery trying to save a patient without knowing their religion, a teacher is working overtime to tutor a student without knowing the financial wherewithal of his family.

As you read this, an artist in France is working on a mural, which will inspire a sculptor in Italy, whose work will instill passion in a writer in Denmark, whose poetry will lead to an editorial in a newspaper in Greenland, which will touch the heart of a student in South America, who will write a book that is embraced by a filmmaker, who will produce a movie that will capture the imagination of the entire world.

As you read this, someone who spent their life promoting hatred is dying, and someone who will spend their life promoting understanding is being born.

As you read this, someone is abandoning their bigotry to make a new friend, someone is helping a newcomer feel welcome in a strange land, someone is consoling a stranger in their grief. As you read this, someone is sharing a story that will bring a smile to a face that has been sad for too long, someone is bringing the warmth of laughter to a child who has felt only the chill of hopelessness for too many years.

As you read this, someone is thinking about the abundance on their dinner table and how to share it, someone is dreaming about love and how to spread it, someone is pondering the concept of peaceful coexistence and how to instill it in the hearts and minds of those around them.

As you read this, a high school student in Germany is reading a message from someone in Mississippi promoting harmony between nations, and she is sending that message to a friend in Kuwait, who is sending that message to a friend in Iceland, who is sending that message to a friend in Australia – and each recipient in turn is sending that message to their friends, who in turn will send that message to their friends, until that message circumnavigates the planet.

As you read this, the voice of prayer is being raised in countless languages, the song of freedom is being sung in countries too numerous to count, the quest for justice is being pursued by millions of people around the world.

As you read this, a scientist in Sweden is looking through a microscope at what may be the key to a cure for cancer, and he’s thinking not of the money to be made, but the lives to be saved. As you read this, an astronomer in Russia is looking through a telescope, and she is thinking about how the exploration of the universe can be used for the good of all mankind, and not for the accommodation of weapons systems that will eventually destroy us all.

As you read this, someone is standing down when urged to do something unconscionable, someone is standing away from a group that advocates violence, someone is standing up for what they believe in.

As you read this, remember that those who live their lives in pursuit of wealth will always be poor, those who judge others based on the color of their skin will always be friendless, those who advocate violence will always live in fear.

As you read this, remember that those who twist religion to serve their own purpose will always be outnumbered by those who have true faith, those who obfuscate the doctrines of justice will always be outnumbered by those who uphold them, those who are blinded by prejudice will always be outnumbered by those who see the humanity in their global neighbors, those who live in the darkness created by ignoring the plight of others will always be outnumbered by those who live in the light of brotherhood.

We, the people who believe in the basic goodness of each other and what we can accomplish together, may be downtrodden. But in the end, we will prevail.

We are all connected; we are not alone. And our numbers are legion.

As you read this, keep that thought in your head, and that truth in your heart.

[avrdream]

1. Beautiful reminder.

With your permission, I'd like to show this to my fellow workers down here in Oz. I'll credit you.

It may help prove that there really are Yanks (besides me) who care.

[NanceGreggs]

4. Please feel free. n/t

[fenriswolf]

2. beautiful, just beautifull

it is this type of generic spirituality that kucinich encompases, I hate to use this great thread as a platform but people call his spirituality hollywood hippy dippy BS but its not. It's true, we are all connected, the only thing that seperates us are political lines drawn on thin air. we all breath the same air, live on the same earth, eat, love, fight. We must realize that religios fundamentalism, patriot zeolotry and corporate greed are ruining are chances of eventually living in harmony. Imagine living in a world where countries help one another, neighbors helping one another, this is not a pipe dream, we need a global shift in values and leadership to be able to make this happen.

I hope this is achieved in my lifetime.

[NanceGreggs]

3. That was beautifully stated ...

... and I hope so, too.

[PA Democrat]

5. What a beautiful message of hope.

[kdmorris]

6. Proud to be the fifth to recommend

That's beautiful and reminds me so much of the Maya Angelou poem "A Brave and Startling Truth". I have it hanging on my wall at work. It's just a thing of beauty!

A Brave and Startling Truth
Maya Angelou

We, this people, on a small and lonely planet
Traveling through casual space
Past aloof stars, across the way of indifferent suns
To a destination where all signs tell us
It is possible and imperative that we learn

A brave and startling truth
And when we come to it
To the day of peacemaking
When we release our fingers
From fists of hostility
And allow the pure air to cool our palms

When we come to it
When the curtain falls on the minstrel show of hate
And faces sooted with scorn are scrubbed clean
When battlefields and coliseum
No longer rake our unique and particular sons and daughters
Up with the bruised and bloody grass
To lie in identical plots in foreign soil

When the rapacious storming of the churches
The screaming racket in the temples have ceased
When the pennants are waving gaily
When the banners of the world tremble
Stoutly in the good, clean breeze

When we come to it
When we let the rifles fall from our shoulders
And children dress their dolls in flags of truce
When land mines of death have been removed
And the aged can walk into evenings of peace
When religious ritual is not perfumed
By the incense of burning flesh
And childhood dreams are not kicked awake
By nightmares of abuse

When we come to it
Then we will confess that not the Pyramids
With their stones set in mysterious perfection
Nor the Gardens of Babylon
Hanging as eternal beauty
In our collective memory
Not the Grand Canyon
Kindled into delicious color
By Western sunsets

Nor the Danube, flowing its blue soul into Europe
Not the sacred peak of Mount Fuji
Stretching to the Rising Sun
Neither Father Amazon nor Mother Mississippi who, without favor,
Nurture all creatures in the depths and on the shores
These are not the only wonders of the world

When we come to it
We, this people, on this minuscule and kithless globe
Who reach daily for the bomb, the blade and the dagger
Yet who petition in the dark for tokens of peace
We, this people on this mote of matter
In whose mouths abide cankerous words
Which challenge our very existence
Yet out of those same mouths
Come songs of such exquisite sweetness
That the heart falters in its labor
And the body is quieted into awe

We, this people, on this small and drifting planet
Whose hands can strike with such abandon
That in a twinkling, life is sapped from the living
Yet those same hands can touch with such healing, irresistible tenderness
That the haughty neck is happy to bow
And the proud back is glad to bend
Out of such chaos, of such contradiction
We learn that we are neither devils nor divines

When we come to it
We, this people, on this wayward, floating body
Created on this earth, of this earth
Have the power to fashion for this earth
A climate where every man and every woman
Can live freely without sanctimonious piety
Without crippling fear

When we come to it
We must confess that we are the possible
We are the miraculous, the true wonder of this world
That is when, and only when
We come to it.

[sicksicksick_N_tired]

22. Oh, yes,...that Angelou piece touches my soul knowing we have the capacity,...

,...to achieve everything she proposes.

We have that capacity.

Those who cling to hell on earth, in their own name, reject our capacity to achieve peace because hell is so more profitable to a few.

[Doc Martin]

23. Thanks!!!

The beauty of the writing from Nance and Maya have me feel good and hopeful, maybe feeling good and hopeful enough that I can continue to remember that we are all connected, and act on that belief when I don't feel good or hopeful but something nearer despair, rage, and righteous...

[Raksha]

27. Wow! Thank you for posting that. It's definitely a keeper. n/t

[madamesilverspurs]

7. Once more,

the hope in you reaches out to the memory of hope in me.

Your words are a blessing that I will not keep to myself...

[Coexist]

8. you have lifted my spirit.

[liberal renegade]

9. Beautiful....

It's too damn bad our fearless leader is such a hateful bastard.....

[proud patriot]

our numbers are legion

[MANative]

10. Beautifully done...

we are not alone, we are al(l)one.

[Frustratedlady]

11. Lovely and touching thoughts.

Why is it so difficult for people to see and feel the connections...to care? It isn't an old-fashioned custom, it isn't for sissies, it is for all of humanity.

It is a simple act.

[Bluerthanblue]

12. oh...

thank you-

thank you so much for this beautiful post.


blu


When Einstein was asked what it means to be human he had this to say:

“A human being is a part of the whole, called by us Universe, a part limited in time and in space. He experiences himself, his thoughts and feelings as something separate from the rest - a kind of optical delusion of his consciousness. This delusion is a kind of prison, restricting us to our personal desires and to affection for a few persons nearest to us. Our task must be to free ourselves from this prison by widening our circle of compassion to embrace all living creatures and the whole of Nature in its beauty.”

[annabanana]

13. Paean to Peace and the Universality of the Human Spirit.

Wonderful.

Thank you Nance.

[againes654]

14. Wow

You write as well as almost anyone I have ever read. Thank you, we all need reminders that as a whole, we will prevail!! United we stand, divided we will fall.

[AnotherGreenWorld]

20. You obviously need to read more.

[HCE SuiGeneris]

15. Jiminy Christo

I needed to hear that this evening. Thank you much, Nance.

[sicksicksick_N_tired]

16. Thank you. Wouldn't it be wonderful if all humanity adopted as its slogan,...

,..."WE ARE ALL CONNECTED!!!"



Thank you, again.

Thank you.

[CaliforniaPeggy]

17. My dear Nance...

Everyone else here before me has said it so much more eloquently than I can...

You speak for me, and for all of us...

Thank you forever!

K&R...

[lildreamer316]

18. This is the best thing I've ever read by you.

Kick ass.

Thank you.

[libnnc]

19. Thank you.

[Doc Martin]

21. Thank you, Nance

[JeffR]

24. K & R!

[gateley]

25. This filled me. Thank you. nt

[AuntPatsy]

26. One of your best, thank you, always a pleasure.

[Raksha]

28. K & R - we are connected. I've always believed this,

but it gives me much-needed hope seeing it in another person's words and stated so beautifully.

[DeepModem Mom]

29. I'm awestruck by this. Thank you! nt

[Mythsaje]

30. A wonderful post, Nance...

Great job, as always.

K and R...of course.

[ClayZ]

31. .

[nofurylike]

32. beautiful. thank you! eom

[Silver Gaia]

33. Thank you, Nance. I don't know what I could add to what's already

been said on this thread, so I offer just a simple thank you. Your words uplifted my soul at this early hour at a time when I truly needed it. Thank you.

[mithnanthy]

34. Your words....

ALWAYS touch my heart. Thank you...I needed that!

[DCKit]

35. The Global "Economy" that should be. Thanks again Nance. n/t

[ejbr]

36. Lines are being made in the most absurd of places

FAUX News head a rolling ticker that said: "Bush says the Democratic Health Care bill would force those children with private insurance to have government-run health insurance."

How myopic in thought can one be to see this as reason to deny the health care of those children without it? It is okay for other people's children to suffer and die instead of taking the chance that govt. health care might inconvenience them with longer lines? Government health care is more risky than the for-profit companies who cut and skimp whenever possible for a profit? These are God-fearing people?

How ridiculous an excuse to take at face value. If those who take this as reason to oppose providing health care to all of America's children, then, unfortunately, there are those who are not alone in ignorance.

[procopia]

37. Beautiful, thank you...(nt)

[SarasotaDem]

39. Beautiful

Thank You ........

[northamericancitizen]

38. Thank You for sharing. Recommended

[angstlessk]

40. For a kick, am proud to be the 51st recommend.

Too beautiful for words. THIS needs to circumnavigate the earth! Thanks Nance as usual you give gifts for the heart!

[rubberducky]

41. What a truely beautiful soul you are!

I feel so lucky to have found your wonderful rants here on DU. But, to call them rants is to denigrate your essays. This essay is an essay on life, reminding us of how powerful "WE" are.

[helderheid]

42. As you read this, I am forwarding this to all of my friends who are forwarding it on to theirs.

Beautiful.

[Raster]

43. In the most simplistic terms, the forces of evil seek to divide and diminish the works of the good.

The traitorous main stream media has gone out of their way to deliberately obscure the evidence against cheney*/bush*. The MSM has made a concerted effort to keep even any mention of dissension out of the public eye, fearful that WE would all realize just how alone WE ARE NOT. cheney*/bush*, the global military/industrial machine and the corporate overlords don't want us to realize just how much power and control we really do have. Because they know if we did, we would focus our energies on the greater good, not the corporate bottom line.

As usual Nance, nice job. Molly would be nodding her head in agreement. Thank you.

Wake up America!

[The Wizard]

44. A we society opposed to a me society.

"No man is an island entire of itself; every man
is a piece of the continent, a part of the main;
if a clod be washed away by the sea, Europe
is the less, as well as if a promontory were, as
well as any manner of thy friends or of thine
own were; any man's death diminishes me,
because I am involved in mankind.
And therefore never send to know for whom
the bell tolls; it tolls for thee."

MEDITATION XVII
Devotions upon Emergent Occasions
John Donne

[FloridaJudy]

45. Beautiful, Nance

I read this just after the post from OMC stating his wife was beginning to show some improvement, and might pull through. That makes two reasons for me to be hopeful today.

I don't know if the prayers and compassion of strangers makes a difference, but I'd like to believe they do. And even if they don't, they make us better people. Maybe the next time someone who's not a stranger gets into difficulty we'll be in the habit of helping. Those hundreds of messages of support to OMC reinforce Ann Franks words: "Despite everything, I believe that people are really good at heart".

[Raksha]

51. Wonderful news!!! Thanks for letting us know.

I read this just after the post from OMC stating his wife was beginning to show some improvement, and might pull through. That makes two reasons for me to be hopeful today.


I lit a virtual candle on the gratefulness.org site for OMC and his wife last night. As one of my favorite teachers used to say about such things, "It can't hurt, and it might help!"

I did have to take OMC off my Ignore list before I could join in the prayers for Stacey. First things first, ya know!

[earth mom]

46. That was Beautiful-Thank You! nt

[MethuenProgressive]

47. Thank you, Nance.

[spanone]

48. lovely

[onethatcares]

49. thank you NanceGreggs.

I can't add to that.

[sandyj999]

50. Beautiful and thought provoking as always. Thank you Nance.

[silverweb]

52. Thank you, Nancy.

We all need this reminder every so often and you put it so beautifully.

[american_typeculture]

53. Sounds like a Monsanto commercial.

The kind they show on PBS right before they ask you to send them money.

[babylonsister]

55. Then I trust you'll share your thoughts for us to critique. I'll be waiting. nt

[babylonsister]

54. Just terrific, NanceGreggs!

[NanceGreggs]

56. Thanks, my Babylon Sister!

And thanks to everyone here; you have all been so kind.

I just wanted to remind my fellow DUers (as I have so often had to remind myself) that although there are truly evil people in this world - people who have power, money and influence - their numbers are so astronomically small when compared to those of us, all over the world, who just want to live our lives in peace, who want justice, who want communication between peoples, and understanding among all nations.

In today's world, especially in our own country these days, it's hard to keep that in mind.

But we must, because the future of the entire planet depends upon it.

[juno jones]

57. Beautiful

K&R

[Stump]

58. Encouraging...

K&R

[NanceGreggs]

59. Welcome to the family, Stump!

[Stump]

61. Thank you!!!

I can't wait to read more of your posts.

[Ilsa]

60. Can I copy and postthis somewhere else? Please? Give credit to

Nace greggs rant site?

[NanceGreggs]

62. Of course.

And thanks for thinking it worth passing along!

[Catherine Vincent]

63. That's just awesome!

One of DU's finest!

[Apollo11]

64. They have newspapers in Greenland?

that are read by students in South America?

Pass the peace pipe, Nance!

That must be some good stuff you bin smokin'

[NanceGreggs]

67. The three MAJOR newspapers in Greenland ...

... are Dansk Polarcenter, Kalaallit Nunaata Radioa, and Sermitsiak. Not sure about the first two, but Sermitsiak is available on-line.

What are the odds of a student in South America being able to read one of these papers? Oh, probably the same odds that a student currently studying in the US can read Arabic, French, Hungarian, Portuguese, French, Spanish or Hebrew.

It IS a small world after all, isn't it?

[Apollo11]

70. Good rebuttal

Thanx for the spankin'!

[NanceGreggs]

72. Thanx for the spankin'?!?

Is that YOU, David Vitter?

(Only kiddin'!)

No spanking intended. I had to go on-line to look up the info myself when writing this, and was AMAZED to find out that Greenland has three 'major' papers (which leads one to believe there are many other papers of lesser distinction/smaller distribution)!

Hey, who knew?

[Apollo11]

65. Who exactly are "those who have true faith" ????

For the sake of argument, let's assume that there are 5 major world religions (not counting all the small ones followed by folks like Mitt Romney and Tom Cruise).

There are basically two groups of people in the world:

First, there are those who believe that 4 out of 5 of the major world religions are definitely wrong. This first group includes the majority of people that we know about.

Second, there are people like me who believe that 5 out of 5 of the major world religions are most probably (and more-or-less equally) wrong.

Humanistically yours,

Apollo11

[NanceGreggs]

66. What makes you think that "those who have true faith" ...

... are necessarily part of any organized 'religion'? The whole point of my OP was the fact that we can "have true faith" in our fellow human beings and our ability to accomplish things together.

In the end, no one really KNOWS if there is a God, or what form he takes. We DO KNOW, for a fact, that we live on this planet with EACH OTHER. Shouldn't THAT be dogma enough to guide our lives, and the way we conduct ourselves?

It is for me.

[Quakerfriend]

68. Simply the best, NG! n/t

[dysfunctional press]

69. and yet...

the world we've created is one fucked up place, and getting more so every day.

[Lex]

71. kick

excellent