Thank you and common threads...

[Deb]

I realized tonight that Speaking of Seth is almost 2 years old.
Launch date was 12/13/2014. The idea was conceived in Nov. 2014, towards the end of one of Rick Stack's Seth Intensives.

Tonight my mind also went back into my past, seeing how life marches on and yet still can contain a common thread.

For me, the thread is my interest in being international and connecting with people that are not necessarily local yet with whom I can connect on a deep level.

When I was about 10 or so, I remember saving my pennies to buy these dolls that were international, ala Disney's It's a Small World. The dolls came in a box, they were all basically all an identical body model but with different hair coloring, different ethnic costumes, different countries of origin. They also came with a slip of paper that had the name and address of a 'real' kid from the country they represented—each a potential Pen Pal. I had one from Germany who I wrote to and never wrote back (plus a couple more). But I was ready: I bought a German-to-English dictionary and was determined to learn German to write to my pen pal.

Then, then suddenly I was 12 and a fan of TeenWorld Magazine (all about teen idols of the day). They had an international Pen Pals page and I mailed in a photo of myself, my name, address and a brief description, basically sending out the message that I wanted some international pen pals. (Can you imagine a 12 year old girl doing that these days?!?)

Within a month or so I'd received 81 (!) letters from around the world. I remember a brown paper grocery bag full of letters residing in my attic for a number of years. I responded to as many as I could, considering my lack of money at the time. I had a few long-term pen pals: one from Guatemala (we ended up exchanging Christmas gifts one year), a guy from West Nyack NY who turned up at my front door several years later (and tracked me down on Facebook a few years ago), a kid from Louisville, KY who started phoning me until his mother shut him down, a guy from Australia, a gal from England, a guy from Kuala Lumpur, some from Canada... too many to remember now.

I had not really made this connection to my childhood until recently, but I think the Internet was always just one step outside my radar. This forum is proof to me that I'm more of a world citizen than simply an American. It's always been in my blood. I want to travel, more and more, and connect and experience as many different cultures as I can.

SoS has been international since day 1. I can't even express how pleased and thrilled I am to have input from around the world, different perspectives, on an interest we all share (Seth) and beyond that. We may not always agree on our opinions, but we all also recognize that we bring our different perspectives to the table and manage to get along and respect one another.

I love the Internet. Thank you to ALL of you for coming together here and discussing topics that I feel are important for to the future of all of us. We ARE all connected, by common thread. I love that.

[Sena]

Deb, thanks for keeping this site going.

[chasman]

super love this website.
thank you for making it Deb.
you are totally awesome!!

[myststars]

If my country is one thing that is VERY different than the rest of Europe is that a meld between West and East (Russia mostly)...We are not so close to Russia but we are not so close to Europe either mentaly...The ex-communist era brought the Russia/communist experience for many 40-50 years and now is EU era in my country putting the cloth over a russian-influenced country...In some way this little country of mine is the middle ground between east and west..We know both ways (the Western way and Russian way)...Unfortunetly this two sides are at duality in the minds of the people in my country...Many old people are entrenched in the old Russian warlike way and they refuse to let go.An alchemy between sides would have been tremendeous useful.I remember an US ambasador in my country said that he didn't understood why the eastern europe countries fear Russia until he came to my country.When we were offered to adhere to EU it was like GOD put a hand on our head but people trust in EU begun to fade away...We transceded it.Some of us begun to search beyond Russia and EU eras...
I will give two ways of building video games...
The russian way ... Stalker Shadow of Cernobyl and Call of Pripyat, Metro 2033 and Last Light
The US way ... Call Of Duty, Medal of Honor

And also you have the movies between the two.The russians have drama, survival in their blood and they are poets at this..An US citizen needs a  Russian citizen to reflect the negative oposite.By this means: survival, rudimentary way of control, low income etc.. The Russian needs the US citizen to reflect new ways ideas of freedom, new oportunities that crop from the freedom and so on....Both have to look at their oposite side.
The way drama presented by a Russian can't really be coppied by an US.This is why it has been a profound gift to be in both worlds.
I met recently some British teens in Airport from Bucharest.They were leaving Romania after a trip here..They were in their 20-is years old.They said they hadn't come to friends here.I asked myself why would they come to visit my country.Britain and Romania are at polar oposites in many ways from wellbeing point of view.I remember some French students they choosed my country to spend some semesters even if they have other more developed countries to choose from...The atraction to oposite fuel the curiosity...Ultimately the comming to balance is the last call...To come to balance you had to explore both sides...Exploring the oposites is just an intermediary step that may take various amount of time...

If any Russian here on the forum please correct or add to my impressions.

[Sena]

myststars, thanks for the interesting background. I live in Sri Lanka, but I was in the UK for a number of years.

[Dandelion]

The Internet has always amazed and fascinated me, ever since I got connected to it many years ago.  Although I'm now more skeptical of the information on it and more selective about what I use it for, I'm still appreciative of all the ways it connects us to the rest of the world.  And I especially appreciate the sense of community one gets from message boards like this, where one can get together with people who share one's interests.  If I try to talk about these kinds of things with people I know, they usually tell me I'm wrong (and they're right) or think that I'm crazy or their eyes glaze over from lack of interest or understanding.

[Deb]

We know both ways (the Western way and Russian way)...Unfortunetly this two sides are at duality in the minds of the people in my country...Many old people are entrenched in the old Russian warlike way and they refuse to let go.An alchemy between sides would have been tremendeous useful.I remember an US ambasador in my country said that he didn't understood why the eastern europe countries fear Russia until he came to my country.

The Western way vs. the Russian way would be an interesting topic in itself, I'm very curious about that. I've been to Russia, but only for a short visit and was, for the most part, in a very westernized city. All the things I'd heard growing up, all the research I did before I went, was very different than my impression during my visit. But then, I realize being in a touristy area and not having spent enough time to get to know the real residents did not give me a full picture of the engrained attitudes of the older generation. I was in a locale for a couple of days that was truly authentically Russian, but politics and attitudes were not part of the scene and no one knew I was the only American there. The people were people, and I felt one with them and felt no differences even though I couldn't converse. I saw (or chose to see) that they were all humans at their core. The common thread. I feel very fortunate for my experience. And I feel that it's easy to see other people as different or the enemy, if we don't have personal contact with them. Anyone I connected with personally, seemed to feel that spark of connectivity and preconceived notions of separation melted away.

I felt so comfortable there, I could have stayed much longer and actually did extend my visit by a few days because I didn't want to leave.

[chasman]

Loved your post Deb.
Couple random thoughts.
You are wise.
I love the internet too.  :-) :-) :-)

[myststars]

We know both ways (the Western way and Russian way)...Unfortunetly this two sides are at duality in the minds of the people in my country...Many old people are entrenched in the old Russian warlike way and they refuse to let go.An alchemy between sides would have been tremendeous useful.I remember an US ambasador in my country said that he didn't understood why the eastern europe countries fear Russia until he came to my country.

The Western way vs. the Russian way would be an interesting topic in itself, I'm very curious about that. I've been to Russia, but only for a short visit and was, for the most part, in a very westernized city. All the things I'd heard growing up, all the research I did before I went, was very different than my impression during my visit. But then, I realize being in a touristy area and not having spent enough time to get to know the real residents did not give me a full picture of the engrained attitudes of the older generation. I was in a locale for a couple of days that was truly authentically Russian, but politics and attitudes were not part of the scene and no one knew I was the only American there. The people were people, and I felt one with them and felt no differences even though I couldn't converse. I saw (or chose to see) that they were all humans at their core. The common thread. I feel very fortunate for my experience. And I feel that it's easy to see other people as different or the enemy, if we don't have personal contact with them. Anyone I connected with personally, seemed to feel that spark of connectivity and preconceived notions of separation melted away.

I felt so comfortable there, I could have stayed much longer and actually did extend my visit by a few days because I didn't want to leave.

This is for you if you want to try to meet the locals...

https://en.wikivoyage.org/wiki/Trans-Siberian_Railway