We Are All Connected
I love the following anecdote contained in this story:
Then one day there was a terrible storm. As high winds and torrential rain swept through the village, some of us huddled together in the meeting house, trying to keep the fire going. People began to tell stories about tropical storms, and someone mentioned the time that a cyclone hit Australia, to the south of us.
Stories about Australians whose houses had been destroyed had traveled far and wide. To my astonishment, I learned that the people in the community and hundreds of others like it throughout the rainforest had been so appalled to hear of the suffering of their “brothers and sisters” in Australia that they decided to donate much of the money they had collected in their temples to help victims of the storm.
Nobody seemed to realize that their rich neighbors in Australia were mostly well insured or that their emergency services were well equipped to help them get through the disaster. Or maybe it didn’t matter. The way they spoke about it, the Australians were like family to them. And when family is in need, you do what you can. That’s what family is for.
I find it fascinating that such a “poor” tribe in Papua New Guinea would feel such a connection with people in Australia that they had never met.
It served as a good reminder for me that we are all connected whether we recognize it or not.
