Six Degrees - Other Scenarios

You've no doubt noticed that the images in the slideshow at top of this weblog have some relevance to the central theme here and if you've read through the posts you'll clearly recognise the connection that some of these images have to specific posts (e.g. Paris Hilton, the Dala Lama, Melanie Griffith and the Cylon). But what about the other images? What's their relevance?

Most of the themes of Six Degrees of Separation revolve around being connected to anyone on the planet through knowing someone who in turn knows someone else and so on.....but what about being connected by other means. For example, when on a flight to some destination you are brought together with a set of people from different walks of life and there's some sort of connection between you (albeit far from lucid), and through them to the other five degrees that separate you and the people that they know. If you're like me then while sitting in your seat you will have often wondered who the other passengers sitting around you are? What do they do? Where are they going? What's their story? Will you ever cross paths again? In particular, these thoughts run though my mind when thinking about the passenger sitting directly on either side of me and as I've traveled quite a bit, I've had these thoughts quite often.

I recall once I was on a flight to Prague and I was sitting (window seat) beside someone (on my right) reading the Washington Post (if you're reading this then I'd love to hear from you). Well I wondered, who is this guy? Where is he going? The Washington Post, here, I thought! Well after we settled down we started chatting and I discovered he was an attorney on his way to Prague to negotiate the lease or purchase of a castle for a rock band thinking of recording there. I could quite easily mention many other such interesting encounters but I think you'll understand the point that I'm making here as I'm sure that you yourself will have similarly had such encounters. What about the very seat that you are sitting in (and what about ritermion, hey!), have you ever thought of who were the six people before you that sat in that same seat, and who will be the next six?

The same thoughts can of course be applied to a host of other scenarios such as a seat on a train, bus or taxi/cab, movie theatre, bar, restaurant or bistro, the pews in a church, the seat in the confessional or the seat at the ball game. Then there's the dentist chair and so on it goes..... Who were the six people before you to exercise on the bicycle that you're exercising on at the gym? Who were the previous six people who occupied the same cabin in a cruise ship or slept in your hotel room bed (now there's an interesting one)? If only the walls could talk hey! Of course sometimes there are clues as people do leave things behind (e.g. in the closet of your hotel room, the ski lodge). This could be an item of clothing, an umbrella, a book or even a newspaper all of which will tell you something about that person (e.g. taste in clothes, size of shoes, what they like to read etc). A newspaper or a magazine left behind might have a crossword or Sudoku completed or partly completed and tell you something about that person, and so on it goes. In some places like Captain Tony's Saloon, in Key West, Florida, there are things deliberately left by former patrons. In fact, the stools at Captain Tony's feature the names of famous people who have sat there before you; John Candy, Jerry Seinfeld, Eric Clapton, Clint Eastwood and Bob Dylan etc. However, in reality we'll never really know and perhaps we don't want to know but it sure is interesting just thinking about it and certainly thought provoking. Call me obsessed but I've often wondered about it!

By the way, I do intend to come back and specifically comment about each of the photos in the slide-show.