Random thoughts at 36,000ft

An inevitable conclusion (one would hope) from international travel is the realization of how clearly we are in fact similar as a species regardless of geographical location. Our biological differences are minute. However, the few millimeters of skin visible to us has allowed for the creation of artificial barriers, arbitrary divisions into groups, and races, which ultimately has led to the denial of humanity among them. This in turn has wrought the oppression and occasionally the extermination of a people.We have all come from the same mother. Literally. There are little Energizer bunnies in each of our cells, called mitochondria. They evolved from bacteria, so subsequently contain their own version of DNA, which is inherited through the generations. As humans we receive our entire mitochondrial “DNA” from our mothers. This means that the total mitochondrial “DNA” in the world today came from a single woman-The Great Mother Hen, if you will. She is estimated to have lived approximately 150,000 years ago. Men, before you begin doing the dishes we too have a Top Cock to worship. The letter of the alphabet that makes us appreciate flat-screen TV’s, beer, and video games is Y. We received our Y chromosome from our fathers who received theirs from their fathers and so on back to a single male. One doesn’t have to go back many generations to find common ancestors among us all.A few recent books have described the world as becoming more flat, and not in a medieval-Vatican kind of way. I would argue that it has always been flat. The common threads among cultures are not solely biological, but they are also observed with respect to mythologies and religions. Virgin births, great flood stories, and similar creation accounts, for example, permeate various religious and cultural belief systems and are not unique to Christianity.Cleary what has changed is the tremendous ability with which we can globally communicate. What has not caught up with this communication globalization is the understanding of our commonalities. As communication has increased, rather than embracing these similarities, we have established the social construct of race and arbitrary classes and used them as a means for the isolation of power among a few and hierarchies with no biological basis.We are in desperate need of a person or symbol to globally establish this common thread. It will not be McCain or Obama (maybe...hopefully) or the Cross or a Jihad or Oprah. Some of the greatest movements and revolutions have started from a single person. Think of apartheid, slavery, and women’s suffrage. [Insert inspirational quote here].