Today after cleaning an old dig site we stopped at the mathematically derived equator - the exact middle of the world.

El Mitad Del Mundo.

The location itself wasn’t entirely compelling; it was amusing, but not something that I was passionately interested in. But there was something that a man there said which struck a chord with me:

What we need is to view this world with a common perspective. Nobody is above or below each other; we are all here, together.

This sentiment isn’t new per se, but maybe the particular setting or the circumstances or my hunger from not packing a lunch made the idea more salient. It resonated with me because - I think of my experience and disillusion with politics from years studying Eastern and Central Europe, economics around the world (particularly the PIIGS (Portugal, Ireland, Italy, Greece, Spain)), and seeing stories of atrocities committed by men against men for contrived, futile reasons.

I’m skeptical that this view will take traction, but I would like to think that on some level we all realize our sameness with one another.