People loving people.

Yesterday, my lovely room mate Geri wrote a blog about the crazy amount of people that exist in the world, and how they all have lives separate from our own. We don't really think about that often. So I'm going to.

Since I started BEDA, I've made some awesome friends. We're all different ages, from all around the world, our uniting force being BEDA and a nerdy disposition. After another marathon Skype chat (in which I actually got to use my vocal chords), I was thinking about how insane that is. I mean, I was TALKING to people in England, not to mention 3 time zones across the US. All at once. For free. And all of these people have LIVES; relationships, friends, adventures, and their own set of problems. Now they have IN jokes with people an ocean away.

I also tend to think about this on long road trips. You've got this entire world going on in your own little car. What about other cars? They're on their way to somewhere far, just like you. Have they gotten bored of 20 questions and moved on to That Guy Is Gigolo too? Do they have the same ridiculous stock of junk food? Do you have ANYthing in common?

Does it matter? You'll never actually talk to this person. Why should you waste a second thought on them? Because people matter. That person you had a head on collision with walking down the street exists outside of making you late to class and giving you a sore tail bone. They're not just a tiny footnote in your story, they have their own. Maybe they're struggling with something and a kind word could make all the difference in the world that day. You just never know.

Another amazing thing is UnculturedProject, aka Shawn. If you don't know about him, you should. He dropped everything and moved to Bangladesh, with the sole purpose of helping those in need. The poorest of the poor. Because he shares his journey on youtube, hundreds of us were able to donate money, help his cause, and see the end result. It's an inspiration, to be sure. We got to help people all the way around the world, and THEY are definitely real people with very real problems. I wish we could see them more clearly as human beings.

The point of all this is that we, the human race, can get really caught up in ourselves and forget about the world. I'm not just talking about the big issues, like starvation and genocide, plenty of us are aware and do the best we can to help. I just think people should love other people. Everyone deserves to be loved, or thought of in a nice way. Everyone wants a compliment and feels good about a smile from a stranger (as long as it's not creepy-stalker material).

I'm going to do my best to make everyone I come in to contact with smile. Just brighten their day a little bit. And remember that their life goes on after they meet me.

This was long and scattered. I'm going to be late for work.

Peace,
Linds