Three Men...One World...

Recently in Portland, the city that I have lived in for most of my life, there was a horrific killing on the MAX train platform in the Hollywood district. A man, harrassing two teenage girls, was called out by other passengers, sadly resulting in the death of two men and the brutal injuring of a third. These men, who didn't know the girls personally, are heroes. They embody what it means to be human and care for others.

Sometimes when I look at things around me, I feel like we have totally lost our way. We have become a society that does not notice or care for one another. People are stuck with their faces in their phones, lost in technological forest of Facebook, Twitter and the like. We have lost the ability to connect on a personal level, have conversations, see eye to eye. My students talk of texting a friend that is sitting next to them in class, days filled with Snapchat stories and livestreams. The personal connection of days past have given way to a world where personal connection is uncomfortable and, in many ways, not valued.

This is why the events of last week are so monumental, so unusual. Three men, strangers on a train, came together to stand for two young women, one wearing a head scarf, to fight the hatred of the world. Three men, stood together to remind us of how far we have strayed from caring about one another. Three men stood together to bring us back to the place where families watched each others children, where neighborhood children played together, where children came home when the streetlights came on. Three men stood together to remind us of a time when the world cared about one another, when strangers helped one another.

We live in one world. Humanity needs to stand and remember that we are only as strong as our weakest link. We can't look out of our small narrow view and forget that others matter. Our paths are intertwined, our future depends on each other.

Three men stood together to remind us that we are human, we must be decent...we are all members of One World.