People say the world is moving too fast. Too much too soon. Globalization. Technology. Social mores. I say that we are very lucky that things are changing. We have so much opportunity at our fingertips, literally. We have the internet. It promotes change. It promotes understanding.

When I was young in the 60’s it was popular to have pen pals from other parts of the world. We wrote our hearts out about what life was like for us in our little part of the USA and waited expectantly for a response encased in distinctive crinkly air mail envelopes with exotic stamps from, what were to us, very foreign countries. We had a real curiosity about the world and our place in it. We were driven to reach out to kids in other countries and from different cultures.

Now this desire has been fully realized through social media. I am presently in contact with people from all over the world: the Middle East, Pakistan, India, Japan, Russia, Italy, Croatia, Brazil, Ecuador, Uruguay, Australia, France, the Netherlands, England, Ireland and Canada.We communicate instantaneously. We open ourselves and our cultures up to scrutiny, support and, at times, ridicule. We are made to think, learn and emote. We develop understanding and tolerance which reaches beneath history and the world news and anchors us to everyday life.

This is a world community. We can no longer avoid our connection to each other unless we shun this medium altogether. And I couldn’t be happier with this turn of events.