Every person is connected through experiencing hardships and them finding themselves again after their suffering.

Every person is connected through experiencing hardships and them finding themselves again after their suffering.

Media:
          Technology and media has allowed people to share their stories and connect around the world. People have always been connected but it is more than ever now. From the beginning of time, humans have made connections with other humans and other living things. "We [people] are actually soft wired to actually experience an other's plight as if we are experiencing is ourselves" (Rifkin, The Empathic Civilization). People connect with each other through empathy and other shared emotions. Rifkin is saying humans can see another experiencing an emotion and feel it themselves. This sharing of emotions allows people to make connections and understand something that one would never experience. Sharing emotions just by reading facial expressions and nonverbal cues can go even farther. If people from completely different backgrounds shared their stories with each other, those two people would share a strong connection. "We need, for example, empathy museums. A place which is not about dusty exhibits... but an experiential and conversational public space. Where you walk in and in the first room there is a human library where you can borrow people for conversation" (Krznaric, The Power of Outrospection). A human library would allow people that would never meet in actuality to share experiences. This sharing of stories can increase understanding and make people empathize. Many people are ignorant to ideas that don't directly impact their lives. Everything is connected and, in some small way, everything impacts everyone. By understanding more about the worlds struggles, more people would be willing to help and make it better. People are starting to move into this direction by utilizing technology. The physical human library is an idea that is hard to create, but a virtual one on the Internet for everyone to access is possible. "The Empathy Library is the world's first online empathy collection and a treasure house for catapulting your imagination into other people's lives. What might it be like to be a child growing up in Tehran, or to be born without sight, or to be a soldier fighting someone else's war? The library takes you on there journeys into unknown worlds" (Krznaric). The human library exists and allows people to connect in ways they never could before. People with completely different backgrounds and life experiences can find connections world wide. Sharing pains and stories helps heal people. Healing and connecting with others has always been a part of human nature but now this ability can be via the Internet too.

Smoke Signals:
          Everyone experiences hardships like poverty and alcoholism but there is hope even in the worst places to make a better life. Indian reservations are the most impoverished places in America. Alcoholism, gambling, and poverty are rampant and everyone suffers to some extent. Aaron Huey visited the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation and took pictures of the terrible conditions people live in. In one of the images there is a man sleeping on an old, torn up couch cushions and the only other possessions in the house is a dirty table and an old chair. There is alcohol and other empty bottles on the table (Huey). This man is in incredible poverty and is driven to alcoholism. He has very few possessions and what he owns is damages or broken. The alcoholism is a natural response and a common self medication on reservations. Reservations seem to be their own country because of their suffering. America often ignores these poverty pits and focuses on other problems. "'Y'all got your passports?... Yeah, you're leavin' the rez and goin' into a whole different country, cousin'" (Smoke Signals). People are isolated and the cycle of depression and poverty is allowed to continue uninterrupted. Not much is done to improve conditions and, to the residents, America seems to ignore them. That isn't to say that the residents give up. For some, leaving the reservation is finding a better life, while others find the good in the bad. In Smoke Signals, Thomas lives on a reservation and could hate his life like his friend, Victor, but he chooses to be happy. Thomas says "some days, it's a good day to die. And some days, it's a good day to have breakfast" (Smoke Signals). Thomas loses his parents as a baby and has so many reasons to fall into depression but he doesn't. He is happy and tries to share that with Victor. Thomas is a living example to Victor. Even when everything is lost, there is a way to heal and find happiness in life. 

Seven Pounds:
          Moving on from suffering means accepting what has happened and finding a new path to follow. Healing can come in many different forms but many include paying for the wrongs someone has done. Karma is one of the central ideas for healing. The idea that people have good and bad karma depending on their actions. Good deeds cancel out bad deeds and the reverse. "It's a cause and effect. Karma is learning from experience... When you do things to pay back your karmic debts, pay them back with interest. Go above and beyond the call of duty" (Psychics Universe). Every action has multiple sides and can be negative or positive. People want to get rid of their bad karma so better things happen in their life and so they can move on. Guilt can eat at people and stop them from moving on. In Seven Pounds, Ben Thomas has awful karma and feels incredibly guilty. He is responsible for a car crash that kills seven people. "Ken Anderson, Nicole Anderson, Ally Anderson, Ed Right, Steven Phillip, Monica Freedman, and Sarah Jensen..." (Seven Pounds). Ben repeats there names to keep him on track. It reminds him of what he did and why he wants to save seven people. Ben begins paying back his karmic debt by donating himself to other people. He gives parts of his lungs and liver away. He picks seven strangers to give his organs to. One of them is Emily Posa who is dying of heart failure. She asks Ben if he ever thinks about dying and he says "every now and again... I lied to you. I think about dying everyday" (Seven Pounds). Ben thinks about what he has done everyday and it haunts him. He has found a way to move on by sacrificing himself but it is still a part of him. He is accepting what he did by dying himself and saving seven people in the process. His choose his new path to fix what he has done.

Ceremony:
          Religion and family can be a great source to heal and find oneself again after suffering. There are many ways to find oneself and heal after going through a hardship. Religion and stories are often what people turn to when they are need of hope and inspiration. "Throughout the novel, Tayo's own difficulties are being mirrored by those of the characters in the poems. Both are struggling with drought, loss, and a disconnect between the way things are and the way things should be, which is the source of all the problems, and both learn to heal there problems by rediscovering their roots and participating in ceremonies that are designed to reconnect them to the truths that they all have lost sight of" (Gardner). Tayo has suffered through war and now a drought. He is lost and looks to the Laguna Pueblo traditions to heal him. The poems are stories of people who have suffered and healed. Tayo follows these examples, completes his ceremony, and finds himself again. He accepts himself, scars and all. "..Thought-Woman/ is sitting in her room/ and whatever she thinks about /appear. /...They created the Universe/ this world/ and the four worlds below" (Silko 1). Ceremony starts with this poem about creating the universe. It is back to the beginning and that is where Tayo must start in order to heal. Looking at these old stories and seeing where his evil came from helps Tayo understand what he has to do. He begins healing when he understands what went wrong and how he can fix it. Tayo has many dreams that help him in his journey. "[Tayo's uncle] Josiah was driving the wagon, Old Grandma was holding him, Rocky whispered 'my brother'. They were taking him home" (Silko 254). Tayo also looks to his family to help him heal. Their stories and support help him overcome his struggles. Going back to ones roots is a great starting place to begin again.

Reel Injun:
          We are all humans and all experience the same pains and joys in life. People are the same when it comes down to it. People are all one species and the differences are irrelevant. Throughout history people have been oppressed by these little differences. Native people in America have suffered from this ever since settlers came over. "[The settlers] used war, history books, textbooks, and when film came around they used film... how many of us are trying to protect our identity of being indian... we are starting not to recognize ourselves" (Trudell). Being indian has become an identity when it shouldn't be. People are people and not whites, blacks, and indians. These labels have people believing there are different types of humans. These differences seem to make it okay to fight. If someone is different, they are less. Russell Means in Reel Injun recalls a time when he went to see a western movie with his brother when they were younger. "And we'd come out of those theaters after the, uh, cavalry had rescued the white people, and all of a sudden we'd hear, 'There's those Indians,' and we'd start fighting. We has to fight them white kids. Every Saturday we knew we was gonna get in a fight" (Means, Reel Injun). These children are not the evil indians depicted in the film but they are attacked. The kids attacking them have more in common with the kids they are hurting than the people white calvary in the movie. They live in the same place, go to the same school, and share some of the same values. People all experience pain and joy in life. These little differences shouldn't be a big deal. John Trudell says "We're not Indians and we're not Native Americans. We're older than both concepts. We're the people, we're the human beings" (Reel Injun). Trudell sums it up perfectly. Everyone is the same when it comes down to it. From that, people are all connected by their similarities and experiences.