In times of stress and conflict, we hear people say that we’re all connected; we’re all human. “Trite,” the haughty one says, “and mind pablum.”
But we can’t get by more than a few days without seeing subtle signs of connection, and I don’t mean connection with close friends or loved ones. I’m talking strangers who remain strangers. Ever hold the door open for someone you don’t know? Ever let another driver go first at a four-way stop sign? Drive a Jeep Wrangler? Note you wave to a passing driver in another Wrangler. Motorcyclists? Why are those left hands out in a stationary “wave” as they pass each other? Or this: The batter steps into the box, performs a little ritual, while the pitcher waits—somehow they cooperate with the umpire and catcher and everyone else on the field to determine the time of the pitch without anyone’s saying a word. You can probably think of other examples of subtle connections, minds strange to each other somehow cooperating in a common or altruistic behavior.
Sure, there are ostensibly more significant connections, like those among loved ones or business partners, those between diplomats, and those in medical emergencies. The big connections are rather obvious and are sometimes even historical, such as the downing of the Twin Towers in New York or the burning of Notre Dame in Paris, both incidents somehow connecting people without a word spoken. But it’s those little connections, the subtle ones, that daily demonstrate what we share as humans.
So, the next time someone entering a building or an elevator ahead of you holds the door, recognize that connection you have as strangers with a common mind.
But we can’t get by more than a few days without seeing subtle signs of connection, and I don’t mean connection with close friends or loved ones. I’m talking strangers who remain strangers. Ever hold the door open for someone you don’t know? Ever let another driver go first at a four-way stop sign? Drive a Jeep Wrangler? Note you wave to a passing driver in another Wrangler. Motorcyclists? Why are those left hands out in a stationary “wave” as they pass each other? Or this: The batter steps into the box, performs a little ritual, while the pitcher waits—somehow they cooperate with the umpire and catcher and everyone else on the field to determine the time of the pitch without anyone’s saying a word. You can probably think of other examples of subtle connections, minds strange to each other somehow cooperating in a common or altruistic behavior.
Sure, there are ostensibly more significant connections, like those among loved ones or business partners, those between diplomats, and those in medical emergencies. The big connections are rather obvious and are sometimes even historical, such as the downing of the Twin Towers in New York or the burning of Notre Dame in Paris, both incidents somehow connecting people without a word spoken. But it’s those little connections, the subtle ones, that daily demonstrate what we share as humans.
So, the next time someone entering a building or an elevator ahead of you holds the door, recognize that connection you have as strangers with a common mind.
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