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Since I'm working the night shift this week, I took advantage of a beautiful morning and walked around the city a bit. I cruised on down to the Olympic stadium to see the torch up close. Although not completed, the areas all around the stadium have been made into walking paths, parks, and carnival ride areas.
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There were lots of families out with their kids and folks just strolling along. The reason I'm putting this picture of the kids playing in the park is because it was this scene more than a decade ago that made me realize that we are all the same. I don't remember what country I was in, but I heard a little kid giggling in a park. I wasn't looking at the kid when she giggled, so of course the image of kids in my life at the time came to mind. It was a little disconcerting to turn around and see the kid and she looked so different from the image in my head. It's funny how a giggle sounds the same in any language! It was at that exact moment that I realized we are all the same. No matter the language, the culture, or the differences, we all cry, we all bleed, we all feel the full spectrum of emotions. For me a child's laugh was the unifier, the thing that made me realize we are all the same. I asked my coworker, Peter, what his "unifier moment" was- the thing that made him realize that all people are basically the same. For him, it was music. He played sax in a band and was travelling in Europe for a while. He was walking along and heard a guy playing sax. The guy let him play his sax, and in that moment, he realized that even though they couldn't communicate through language, they could through music..1.jpg)
So, since yall have all been voyeurs on my little adventure so far, you have to participate now! I would love to hear your comments on "unifer moments" - if you've had one and what it was. Don't disappoint me!
4 comments:
Hey Karen--I watched the Opening Ceremony as well. Very well done and was wondering if you were there. Hope the party was as good.
My "we are all the same" event came in Hania, Crete when we used to stay at one of the hotels downtown. There was a carpenter across the street busily making a cabinet. His workshop looked very similar to the one a building contractor I worked for through high school and college had in Connecticut. I realized that shop could have been either Crete or Conn, and the carpenter either the man there in Hania or my old carpenter friend in Conn. Simple, but as effective for me to know we're all the same.
I have several, but perhaps that's because I've needed the reminder.
The first was before Gen got over to Spain, and I typically went out with my single friends I knew from the barracks. It was the bar where Bob met Anna, and I really enjoyed my experiences there.
Around Christmas or new years they were having a bash, and one of the older gentlemen who haunted the place pretty much laid out how their society worked, how it differed from ours, but how much we had in common - it seemed to do the trick.
Not a poetic story (one time, in a bar...), but it was probably one of the first times I pulled off the blinders and saw how little actually separated cultures. Were it not for religion, politics and language barriers, I still like to think everyone could sit down to coffee, tea or whatever and get along famously.
Thanks yall! Either I'm just a geek or I'm getting sensitive in my old age! When I was a teenager, I couldn't understand why my dad would watch the nightly news. Why did he want to know what was going on on the other side of the world?! It's amazing how much smaller the world gets once you get a little more life experiences under your belt!
Karen, like your unifier moment, mine was also on a playground. I was watching my son (he was about 3 or 4) play with his little friend, who was black, then a little anglo girl came up and they all were playing. Then there were some local Spanish children (we were stationed in Spain) that came up and they all started playing together. There was no pushing or shoving - no remarks about race or religion. Just children playing and having fun. Smiling and laughing children all look and sound the same no matter what race or religion. There is no language barrier in laughter. It is a beautiful thing. :O)
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