Just an idea of how my mind works

[seymoure]

I was doing some work with my DVD database when I came across the wonderful Terry Gilliam film called "Brazil." I thought, "Wonder how this film did in Brazil? Would they be insulted? Would they wonder why it was called Brazil, rather than, say, Cleveland? Would they 'get' that Brazil is really an idea rather than a place to us?" And then it hit me, every place and every people that are not among us, not part of us, becomes an idea. Unless you know an Iraqi, Iraq is just that Muslim country over there that is so much trouble. Turks were just as unreal to me until I was in Turkey. I had an idea what Italians were, but it came from American Italians(and therefore, a pretty idealized version) or movies. America must be the same to those other folks around the world. We are not real, we are what we appear to be. That is why it is so important that we don't let ourselves be perceived as something or someone we don't want to be. I tell my improv classes that the DNA that "fingerprints" us is less than 1% (somebody said .03%, I think, but don't hold me to that) The other, over 99% of who we are is exactly like everyone else. We will always be more alike than we are different. We all want the best for our children, we all want respect and to be able to respect ourselves. We all want fairness. We all have a certain amount of vanity, selfishness and idealism. If only we could focus on what makes us alike, rather than kill each other because of our perceived differences. Small towns prove this. Communities prove this. When you live in a small town and someone has a problem, whether you know them or not you do what you can to help. Block parties are the same thing, rent parties. Watch after a tornado, no one asks, "What God do you follow" when they send in relief supplies. They ask, "What do you need?" That's what we need. Just keep thinking, "Brazil is a place, not an idea. People are more like me than different than me." Then, just maybe, we can pull this life thing off with fewer hitches, and have some fun at the same time. Just remember this: When Magellan was circling the Earth with his fleet of ships, they sent a team ashore in Teira Del Fuago (southern tip of South America). They were there to get fruit to stave off scurvy, and the natives were more than happy to trade. But when the locals asked, "Where are you from?" The sailors pointed out at the multi-masted ships in the bay, but the Indians saw only banks of clouds. Astounded the sea farers insisted that there were massive sailing ships out there, but none of the natives saw anything. When the explorers men loaded a few of the unbelieving locals onto their dingies and took them out to stand on the decks of the ships, they were greeted with happy men, glad for the new knowledge. These men went back ashore, told what they saw, and then everyone could see the ships. They merely couldn't perceive that for which they had no experience of, no mental picture rested within their minds. Things working, people getting along, these are things that, until we see them, we may not be able to believe they can exist. But, they are out there, in the mists of that bay. Let's all work to make them visible to all.