I have yet to meet a person who has not heard about what has been in the news about the 12 members of a youth football (soccer) team in Thailand who were lost in a cave.  For 17 days we have been hearing about fear, the worry, and finally the wonderful news of the successful rescue and the ability for the children to soon be reunited with their families.  I found myself tuning in every day, using social media to find live updates, started checking all the media outlets to check the tally as the boys were coming out, and reached out to friends when I heard the news that all 13 were rescued.  It touched everyone in many ways and it brought the world together to cheer for something and hope for something better. 

It’s been so bewildering lately. Society is more polarized than ever. From sports to patriotism to children, there seem to be subjective views on how society, as a whole, should behave.

Lately, it seems the news is plagued with so many sad and negative stories that show the amount of pain around us. School shootings, celebrity suicides, hate motivated crimes... We, as a people, are hurting. And it seems more and more we don’t have outlets to express our pain. As it gets easier to not interact with each other, there is a stronger sense of isolation: we have online “friends”, we order our groceries online, we stare at a computer vs working in person…. Society is encouraging us in the loudest of terms to isolate ourselves. But to what end?
At our core, human beings wish to connect. We are made to connect. And not connecting is when our frustration of not having an outlet becomes louder. People – and connection – is vital to the human experience. When hearing about school shooters, celebrity suicides, social media “battles”, etc. the eventual answer is a person’s lack of connection to someone else.