This is a small blue dot floating in space.  The only place there are borders is on maps.

I have eclectic tastes in music although I generally listen to classical pieces or American Standards from the 40’s and 50’s.  My iPhone contains offerings from around the world.  If you walk in our door, it’s hard telling what will be playing.

We like to go to the Joslyn Art museum here in Omaha, but we’ve been to others all over the country and some in the UK.  The works of artists from around the world express individual themes and cultural differences, but it’s pretty easy to see similarities from all areas and ages.

Our menu here at our home is about as eclectic as our taste in music.  Eleanor is a great cook (I’m no slouch, either) and surprises me with dishes of all kinds.  We both grew up with Midwestern “farm fare,” but our palates have expanded even if our waistlines haven’t.  The variety makes life interesting.

And that’s the point.  Whether we’re listening to Sinatra and eating steak and potatoes, a mariachi band and enjoying enchiladas, the African rhythms of Ladysmith and some Moroccan or Ethiopian fare, an interesting Asian artist and a great stir fry, we’re feeding our tummies and our hearts with what the world has to offer.  We all make music, and we all have to eat.  Feed the heart, the mind, the body.

One of the things that has been apparent the last couple of months as we’ve daily watched the spread of this virus is that it affects all people.  No one is immune because she or he is of a different race—or even species, it seems!  All HUMANS can be infected and suffer and possibly die…the fate that awaits us all.

Benjamin Franklin told his fellows in the Continental Congress, “We must, indeed, all hang together, or, most assuredly, we shall all hang separately.”  I have thought of this often lately.  The Nationalism that I’ve heard espoused from politicians around the world is short-sighted, I think.  Our global survival may be hanging by the thread of compassion and cooperation.

Our masked social distancing should be bringing us together, not pulling us apart.  This is one world.  We are one people.  I am hoping we will one day enjoy one celebration of life and not myriad separate funerals.

Be safe.  Wash your hands.

Dr. Dan

05-13-2020