Interconnected?

I took a train to Long Island this morning and met up with a good friend and colleague of mine who lives out there. We toured South Hampton, walked around the cute little town, in and out of stores with price-tags that are too high to recount, bought over-priced (but delicious) sandwiches, and made our way to the beach, which, of course, you have to pay for to sit on. The homes are set back a mile from the road with hedges so high you might be able to sneak a peak if the gardner did a poor job of pruning that week. I couldn't help but notice the stark contrast of the life I was witnessing today with that of the one I lived a mere 2 weeks ago on the island of St. Lucia. How could these two extremes occupy the same planet? How can we be this disconnected from one another?

On the ride back home, we hit bumper to bumper traffic. For 30 minutes we inched forward, which seemed odd for 4 pm on a Tuesday. A few miles down the road we saw the reason for the delay - across the street a terrible accident. More than 4 cars were involved. And they were completely turned over all over the road. A mile of highway space had been blocked. As we passed the scene, the traffic on the other side of the highway became seen. Miles upon miles of cars were lined up. Many of whom would not know for hours what the cause of the delay actually was. Hundreds of lives were being effected by this one accident down the road. Each car, each life inside each car, now interrupted due to the unfortunate fate of another member of humanity. They may never know one another but they were now connected and effected by one another's lives.

And I realized that no matter how distant and far apart the various lives and different circumstances actually are, that we are truly all interconnected. And our actions effect, sometimes very indirectly, the lives of all the other people who inhabit our planet.