Intricacy

I've heard of the 6 degrees of separation theory. Instead of trying to explain it I'll quote the ever useful Wikipedia, "Six degrees of separation (also referred to as the "Human Web") refers to the idea that, if a person is one step away from each person they know and two steps away from each person who is known by one of the people they know, then everyone is at most six steps away from any other person on Earth." I blown away at the intricacy of life and relationships. Case and point, last night Daniel and I were checking out at Wal-Mart and a lady and her little girl were behind us. They looked as though they might be from India. I happen to be corresponding with a woman named Reetu who is from India. She works at Amazon with Daniel and he gave her my e-mail address. Now back to the lady at Wal-Mart, as I watched her unload her groceries, I couldn't help but think about my e-mail buddy and wonder how her night was going. Now here's the cool part, as Daniel and I were headed to grab a sandwich from the Subway in Wal-Mart, I saw someone waving at me...at least I thought she was waving at me. I hate that feeling when you don't know if you're waving back while someone else (the one who the wave was meant for) is behind you feeling sorry for you because you have no idea that the mental stress you're putting yourself through trying to figure out if you really know this person is entirely unecessary. Anyway, as I was tentatively waving it dawned on me that the woman was in fact waving at me because she is my pen pal of sorts. We got the chance to talk briefly before Daniel and I headed to the Subway. As I ate I noticed that the little girl from the checkout line was now sitting with Reetu. Obviously they knew each other, but I didn't know how. I later got an e-mail from Reetu explaining that the lady and little girl who were behind us are her friends and from the same part of India. I know it's not a life changing story, but I can't help but smile about how small the world really is. There are so many relationships that connect us to people far beyond our usual circle. When I student taught I tried to stress that the language and people we were learning about weren't aliens, but in fact similar to us in many ways. Although I taught this, I still have a hard time looking at people who are different than me in any way and believing that we'd have much in common. The truth might be that we don't have much in common as far as our favorite food, color, and way of doing things are concerned, but fundamentally our need for respect, love, meaning, etc. are the same. It just makes me happy to think about how God has created us as relational beings and connects us in the most unlikely ways, which leads me to believe that He is in the smallest details of our life and can guide it to make one incredible story if we let Him be the author. Basically, I love small world moments.

Now on the Super Bowl, as a Kappa and cheerer for the Cinderella story I hope New Orleans wins tonight. See the visuals below to figure out the Kappa/Saints connection. Oh, I also like their cheer ""Who dat? Who dat? Who dat say dey gonna beat dem Saints? Who dat? Who dat?" Just so you know, I also looked the cheer up on Wikipedia because as an English teacher it's tough for me to write things like dey and dat, so I had to make sure I did justice to the chant and didn't correct something that shouldn't be.

Do you see the connection???