Calcutta Day 13/14 - August 9/10 2010

We had a long layover in Dubai.  We took a four hour city tour which was nice.  We also met a man from Saudi Arabia and had a nice conversation with him over lunch about everything from social justice issues to investment banking and finance, to burying people upon their death, to the meaning - or rather, the meaninglessness of life, to our past President Mr. Bush, and to racial profiling.

Grace feeding the (stuffed)
camel at Dubai Museum

Tammy kissing the (stuffed) camel

On the flight back from Dubai to JFK, I was watching a documentary by Madonna "I Am Because We Are", which shares about the lives of the many orphaned children in Malawi due to the AIDS pandemic.  Anyhow, I loved how the movie described the interconnectedness of us all, as a global community.  As I was listening to the narration, I felt like it was speaking the thoughts in my mind and heart, so I scribbled them down quickly and am sharing them here.

I AM BECAUSE WE ARE:

• it's about seeing the world as one unified whole. It’s an understanding of the interconnectedness between every one of us. And there’s no difference b/w the children of Malawi, Phillipines, of... (not enough time to capture the countries mentioned but you get the point).  We are all children of the world and we are all responsible for them.  
• It makes a seed of sillyness of anyone who thinks they are better or separate than another. 
• When you dehumanize the other, inexorably you are dehumanized.  You need the other person to be all they can be in order for you to be all you can be.  And when you do think that way, the things we can solve together are beyond imagine. 
• And that way these problems become our problems, and the solutions involve all of us in the issue.
• What we have in common is more important than our differences.
• There are ways for each of us to contribute.  You need to find your own way.  Understand how interconnected we are. 
• We live in a world where we have choice.  The choices spin out of control...for the world together that solves problems and finds a path to peace.
• It will take courage and resilience
• Take great comfort in knowing that people are the same everywhere. We all bleed the same color.  We all want to look after our children. And we all want to love and be loved.

See y'all in America!