Chilean Miners Emerge from/into a Small World

I have been watching the dramatic rescue of the 33 Chilean miners with wrapped attention.  What has been particularly noteworthy is the way in which this event seems to have the planet feeling a little more "connected."    It seems the whole world is cheering for these guys.  There has been the usual "media-circus" surrounding the event, with news agencies from every corner of the globe vying to get their shots in.  It was funny last night watching the Fox News reporter trying to speak and translate Spanish as he held impromptu interviews with a few miner family members.  This guy's Spanish was about advanced enough for him to ask directions to the bathroom, but I gotta at least give him an E for effort.  I have written a lot in my other 365 Reasons blog about the idea of the world being connected and about the need for global citizenship.  Why are those things important?  Well, for one, because they are true.  We are more connected than ever and that does give rise to the enhanced need to understand things about cultures other than our own.  Take, for instance, the need to understand another language (which would have greatly aided that Fox News guy, as well as his viewers).  That may have not have been so important 50, or even 20 years ago, but it is certainly becoming more and more important now.  Understanding other people is a solid first step to becoming better understood by them and that bodes well for future peace and prosperity.  For as long as we are at each other's throats not much gets accomplished, other than the enhancement of our ability to innovate means by which to destroy one another with heightened precision and efficiency.  We humans are really good at the conflict thing.  The cooperation thing is a bit newer to the scene and while we seem to be struggling with it, at least some of us seem to be slowly coming to grip with the fact that the world is a much smaller place.  Of course that might just make it all the more easy to blow up, or hopefully and alternatively, to grow up.  The Chilean miner rescue seems to be helping us in the latter endeavor.  Viva Chile!