Small World

It's a small world. This is the name of one of the most well-known rides at all Disney parks, and I believe everyone knows the song that goes with it. The song and ride carry the positive message that we're all connected.

Did you ever go to a party where some annoying dude you knew years ago suddenly walks up to you and says "Imagine that, meeting you here buddy! You a friend of Nathan to? It's a small world, isn't it?" After a short and icy answer you try to avoid any further contact that evening, and you silently curse the world for being far too small...

Love it or hate it: our world is small and we all are closely connected. Ever heard of the game "Six degrees of Kevin Bacon"? If not, it is a website made to proof the validity of the theory of "Six degrees of separation". The theory says that every individual on Earth is connected to any random other individual through a maximum of six steps. On the Kevin Bacon website you can enter any actor, from now or in the past, and the database of over 250,000 actors will link them to Kevin Bacon within six steps through their co-stars.

This means that every person on Earth influences every other person. Now, with internet, cellphones and airplanes lines have become even shorter. What we do, what we say, what we dream about for the future, it all influences what our surroundings do, say and dream about. And the consequences of your words and actions may only be six steps away from reaching a lonely sheep-farm on the other end of the world. The point here is that to make a better world we should all be aware of how closely we're all connected, that none of us is an island, not even when we're quarantined. We should be aware that something as simple as a genuine smile affects the receiver of that smile, who will carry that to everyone else through just a few steps. I've linked the song above and, as annoying as the music is in my ears, the lyrics carry a basic truth I believe we should live by:

It's a world of laughter
A world of tears
It's a world of hopes
And a world of fears
There's so much that we share
That it's time we're aware
It's a small world after all

Linked below is a short video explaining the science behind this rule of six degrees of separation and small-world networks. I hope you'll enjoy it, that it will make you think about your place in this small world, that you realize that you matter, your actions matter, what you say matters, and that there are no unimportant persons in this world, because everyone matters.

Thanks so much for visiting my blog and reading my posts dear reader, I appreciate that a lot :-) If you like my content, please consider leaving a comment, upvote or resteem. I'll be back here tomorrow and sincerely hope you'll join me. Until then, stay safe, stay healthy!