WE ARE ALL CONNECTED

At some points in La Union it's barely 50 kilometres from the sandy, sometimes rocky coastline to the province's proud ridges and peaks. From the beach we can see the mountains of the Cordilleras, blue and hazy in the distance, while waves from the West Philippines Sea lap up over our feet. It's not hard at all to realise that yes we are all connected...from ridge to reef. Not just in the lay of the land, but in the flow of water, and the activity of people. The changing winds and seasons give all creatures and beings a rhythm, a rhythm that drives life onwards and makes us all partners in a dance. Age-old knowledge and traditions connect generations, trade and commerce connect up-landers with coastal-dwellers and townsfolk with their rural cousins, even adversity or tragedy can unite and often creates bonds that endure. There's a poetry in it that speaks to all of us.

Ideas help create new tribes, and as habits become values and nuances become culture, these tribes develop into communities. Communities have a feel and a depth: "a sense of community", and something of an unwritten purpose as well.

It's easy to overlook the underlying weave that binds us all, it's easy to get caught up in the more immediate and demanding requirements of normal everyday life. Everyone has a unique story, unique needs and communities are made up of individuals after all: and its individuals that communities ultimately serve - not the other way around. But when we forget that we are all connected we start acting in ways that will eventually hurt ourselves: physically - in the sense that our security and well-being may degrade, but also also spiritually. We dont gaze up in awe at the ridges while we're standing on the reef, nor see a spirit behind another creature's eyes. We're off-rhythm, blind to the beauty of being connected, and most painful of all... we're cut off from the poetry that would otherwise make our spirits so fulfilled.

"We're all connected" - I read these words and know that it must be so true. I read these words and I'm filled with peace and purpose.