You know, sometimes I reflect on the segregation that exists in our world. The "othering" of people and the creation of "us" and "them". This segregation has a strong tendency to lead towards inequality, inequity, and indifference. These "others" are often undervalued and forgotten about... i.e. Darfur, Iraq, Afghanistan, Northern Uganda, Eastern Congo, etc...
But as much as we are all unique, there are similarities that exist among and across all human kind, regardless race, national or ethnic origin, colour, religion, sex, age, disability, socio-economic status, and level of suffering.
Looking in the distance
I saw something move
Coming a little closer
I saw an animal
Coming a little closer still
I saw a man
Coming up real close
I saw my brother
-Tibetan tale
I came across this project called 6 Billion Others. It is a growing collection of full-frame up-close videos of people from many different walks of life and creates a unique opportunity for one to identify with people of very different origins. They discuss parenting, joy, family, God, dreams, love, nature, fears, happiness, tears, laughter, children's dreams, and presentation.
The creator of 6 Billion Others, Yann Arthus-Bertrand, describes his developing project (expected to be completed in 2008) by saying, "The confrontation of voices from all over the world underlines both discrepancies and surprising similarities of thought. All of our encounters are linked together by three main human processes: that of testifying, that of feeling, that of thinking."
Arthus-Bertrand presents a compelling and thought-provoking suggestion--one that I see bears much truth. I also recommend reading his linguistic illustrations of testifying, feeling, and thinking.
Visit this site, and see how much we share with all of humanity on parenting, joy, family, God, dreams, love, nature, fears, happiness, tears, laughter, children's dreams, and presentation.
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