I know you. You are but a stranger reading this article on Odyssey. You may be Facebook friends with one of my Facebook friends that liked or shared this article I posted. You may be another student I passed by on my way to the library, or a friend of a friend of a friend. In other words, I know you.
Six degrees of separation is the theory that all humanity is connected within six or fewer "degrees," or people, from one another. For instance, I know Patrick Stump of Fall Out Boy:
First Degree: I went to high school and had a principal.
Second Degree: My past principal knew Cassadee Pope.
Third Degree: Cassadee Pope appeared in Fall Out Boy's music video, "America's Suitehearts," and met Patrick Stump.
Therefore, I can say I know Patrick Stump with three degrees of separation. So just how closely is everyone really connected?
The six degrees of separation prove that we all have a connection to the tragic shooting that occurred in Orlando this past Sunday, the 49 victims, the 53 people injured, their friends and family and all the communities suffering from loss. Through the six degrees of separation, we all have someone to mourn the loss of, someone to share our blood with and someone to protect in our country built over bones crushed by violence and disintegrated into the earth by injustice.
With the many controversies flaring in the media such as the activity and threat of ISIS, the push for stronger gun control laws or the blatant homophobia the LGBT+ community is experiencing, we tend to lose sight of the connections we share with each other as well as the global connections that mold society's palms into one another. Although we may recite prayers from different religious texts or seek democracy through a different animal than our colleagues, whether you are extending your arms to exercise your second amendment rights or to allow a needle to donate blood to victims of humanity's vices, we all have a reason to mourn.
Many of us often mourn in different ways to tragedies like these. Some of us take to social media to show our support for the victims. Some of us attend vigils or houses of worship to pray for recovery and hope. Some of us show our support through donations of blood or money. Some of us even break down and cry, cradling one another in each other's embrace. Regardless of how you mourn or show support, we all subconsciously build upon these interpersonal relationships and similarities we bury within ourselves, all to become one pulse in the heartbeat of humanity. The unbeknownst togetherness we share in times of need is the true beauty of the six degrees of separation.
So you, my friend, stumbled across this article and decided to keep reading, curious to understand what this notion is all about and why it even matters to you. You decided to step out of your boundaries and connect with me, getting to know me further as if discussing theories and humankind was our ideal first date. Congratulations, you have just progressed your personal six degrees of separation. Oh, and that is how I know you.
