The Man in The Cowboy Hat, The guy in the crowd.

On any given day the a guy in a cowboy hat might have been someone to avoid. One may not think twice about not saying high to the person standing next to you. If you stood two, or 2000 people next to each other, you might be hard pressed to find much more than a few things in common; or so we think. We have become disenfranchised from our fellow humans all too easily these day possibly due to the alarming amount of desensitizing information that is readily available via a myriad of mediums.

Possibly one of those moments in time was the coming together of thousands of people to celebrate human achievement at the Boston Marathon. It’s an historic event more than fifty years old, it’s a tried and proven celebration of mind and body.

It’s a beautiful day; the revelers are lining the sidewalks to cheer for family friends and fellow travelers who have chosen the push the boundaries of mind over matter. Those brave souls being cheered on by strangers who have one thing in common; spirit. The spirit of the heart brings them together. It’s the common bond, which allows total strangers to celebrate as one. To drop their guards, and their barriers, and to join together as one.

 In one fell move, their dreams are shattered by an act of unbelievable cruelty. Bombs in the midst of innocent people. People whose only common thread was to celebrate human dignity and courage. Quickly this moment of celebration is turned into a moment of compassion and bravery. In an instant, total strangers jump into survival mode to help others in need, others they do not know but who now have been drawn closer together by fear and kindness by loss and bravery. By Humanity. 

A man in a cowboy hat and a guy in the crowd. The man in the cowboy hat probably experiencing fear himself but not giving it a second thought as to the differences he and the victim of this senseless act may have. He simply sees a fellow human in need and rushes to his side to comfort and to help.

Why is it that one will sacrifice others  and others yet, would so easily sacrifice themselves to help a stranger? Why are so many preoccupied with what is different about the world and how that does not work and others yet are willing to look beyond those differences to see what will work? We have become things as a human race, and those things are what separate our commonalities and us. We are Black and White, Jew and Catholic, Gay and Straight, Man and Woman.

Is it those differences that are the driving force which make people hate enough to want to kill those who do not believe what they believe?

All we can do is teach our children that under all of the differences we have, we share, for the most part one common bond. The bond of Humanity and therefore we have much in common; much to celebrate. I have tried to pass this on to my own children in the hope that they will see beyond those boundaries to what we have in common and not that which keeps us apart. I wrote a book for my daughters which I have tried to live by, The Thing.