Crash

Detective Graham Waters, played by Don Cheadle, says "It's the sense of touch. In any real city, you walk, you know? You brush past people, people bump into you. In L.A., nobody touches you. We're always behind this metal and glass. I think we miss that touch so much, that we crash into each other, just so we can feel something."

This opening statement from the movie "Crash" explains much of the problems we have in our daily lives. Ka, from "Snow," had to go to a place like Kars to feel alive again since Frankfurt was a place where someone like him can live in splendid isolation. Within the U.S., we remain isolated from the rest of the world behind our computers and TV screens. Everything we discover about other nations comes through the amazingly biased media outlets and it is very uncommon for regular viewers to question such absurdities.

The problem surfaces when the people on both sides of the screen meet. The stereotypes and prejudices are suddenly traded in for the human face. Travel is becoming increasingly easy, and although I do encourage it, I do not believe it is the only way to understand others. The beauty of America is that you can find people from every background. I spent the entire day walking around Washington, D.C. and I was amazed who this county has brought together. I met a Japanese American and as we passed memorials in city, he explained unbelievable facts about the internment of Japanese Americans during WWII. It seems that loyalty is questioned whenever a person has anything in common with those on the other side.

As the world slowly becomes a global village, I envision a time where background isn't how a person is identified, but that each person is given a chance. You may call me overly optimistic, but I just don't see any other possibility. Borders are fading whether we put up concrete walls here or in the occupied territories in Palestine. We will "crash into each other" and we will find that the only way to survive is to accept each other.