One.

I read an article last week about an experiment a few psychologists were putting together to learn about human connections. They paired several random strangers off and gave them a list of questions to ask each other. The questions started off simple and relatively nonintrusive. “Where were you born?” “What is your favorite color?” Slowly, they got more and more personal. “What are you scared of?” “Do you get lonely” What they found was that after only an hour with each other, these people felt a connection that was as deep as if they had known each other for years. They found that they had discovered a way for people to care about each other through a simple 60 minute discussion.

So why isn’t our society run that way? Why are we obsessed with separation when we are all so connected? At a young age we learn to be better than everybody else. The western educational system was created with the core belief that we are individual beings who should be competing with one another. We are given letters that only hold as much value as we give them. The worse someone else’s grades are, the better that makes yours. Competition is instilled in almost every aspect of our lives in fact. School, careers, the stock market, sports, it all teaches us the art of selfishness. We are constantly rewarded for our individual achievements and our success over others. When you strip the problems of our world down to the bare bones, isn’t that the root problem? Our love of competition and disregard of cooperation?

We preach democracy every day but we don’t practice it. We have moved so far away from cooperation that we have started to forget that we are all the same, we are all always connected. As a species we are not meant to be separated. Like the fragile strings of a spider web, we all create our world. Every other living species on the planet is more focused on community than we are. Think about how much we long for that connection that we are missing. When you hear a story of someone doing something good for someone else, or watch a video of animals helping their fellow animal out, what do you feel? For most people, that feeling is called inspiration. We have to stop needing a hurricane or terrorist attack or a church meeting to make us remember that we are all brothers and sisters. It is tragic beyond words how much love we waste every day. When you perceive all of us as a whole, as a connected oneness, you start to realize that helping another human being, is really helping part of you.

So I challenge you to smile at someone, hug someone, shake someone’s hand, just connect with someone every day for as long as you live. If you’re life is not better because of it, then find me and tell me I am wrong. Tell me the way we have twisted and mistreated our world really works. Until then, you are accountable for your actions, and the actions that you don’t do to help someone else. Contrary to popular belief, we are not born alone, so do not live your life as if you are.

- Diana