Sing this Song

Every time I see a flapping flag waving it's national pride on the side of a vehicle, it makes me smile. This small piece of fabric inspires big heart and a lot of noise...especially when it's soccer team takes a win in South Africa. I love it because even though each flag and each team unites the individual nation, the whole world is together.

Inevitably, the nations will find themselves with other nations more and more. At present, I live with an Iranian, a Sudanese, an Ethiopian, two Congolese, an Honduran, two Columbians, and a Canadian. This past week, I ate Iraqi food for lunch on Wednesday and Filipino food for supper on Friday. Canada has been known as a multi-cultural mosaic since my days in high school but I would like us to be more like a tapestry. In a mosaic, the pieces of glass or stone are side by side and separate to produce the picture but in a tapestry,each thread weaves in and out, over and under the others to create the image. Mosaic or tapestry, we live in a small world.

I hate writing 'small world', mostly because it immediately causes "the song" to get stuck in my head and I don't want to sing that song. With increased information and the increased accessibility to fly, people are seeing and knowing more about the globe than ever before. Eight years ago I was still working with Youth for Christ in Tillsonburg. I worked with a guy named Kevin Hiebert and he was married to Caroline. They left Ontario for Manitoba and I had not seen them until recently...in Santa Cruz, Bolivia. One Sunday I walked into church, rounded the corner, and saw Kevin, Caroline, and their now extended family of three children sitting on the bench. An echo of the "holy crap" that flew from my mouth bounced around the sanctuary as we caught up on the last decade and talked about getting together.

During my years in Bolivia, I also met a young lady, Lyndsey Gangel. As it turns out my co-worker, Scott, had also met her...in South Korea. On the tube, in the halls of Welcome Home, up and down the streets, and everywhere, there is evidence of a shrinking world. Life only lasts 80 years and I don't want to waste a one nor live it in an ordinary way. I want to see and do as much as possible and I can, because it's a small world after all.