We Human are All Connected?

     Yesterday I was an invited speaker for the Cortland County Historical Society in upstate New York.  My topic covered observations on the significance of tower silos  in Cortland County.  They remain as monuments to the transitions in the dairy industry from small farms to the mega dairies of today.  

    During the Covid pandemic I photographically documented the remaining silos and wrote a pamphlet that is now archived at the historical society, thus the invitation.  My audience was residents of the area. For the most part they were new faces to me since I had not lived in Cortland all my life.  So at the beginning they were strangers to me.  However, that did not preclude being connected to them in some way or another as people of this earth.

    Here are some observations on the manner of our connections.  Some had grown up on dairy farms.  Some had the common experience of the labor associated with agriculture. Some had also observed the silos of the county and became intrigued thinking about the background of families who had been dairy farmers there in the past. Some, like myself, have developed an affinity for the simple beauty of the silo structure and the rural surroundings.  

     To connect this to my emphasis on skiing and geezerhood, at the end of my talk a lady asked me if I knew her husband who is an avid skier at our Greek Peak.  And so it was.   Connections do often bear some other fruit than acquaintanceship.  In her case, she is petitioning to be on the ballot for our local school board.  I ended up adding a signature to her petition.  I probably could go on at greater length about connections,  but will resist.  

    I conclude that we do not function as a people in isolation. We have both known and unknown impacts on many people.  In fact, we cannot fathom how our acts can ripple throughout society both for the better and for the worse.  In this chaotic time in the United States I pray that the better angels of our behavior will come to dominate and improve humankind, end wars, end poverty and produce peace.