Celine Dion. If she ruled the world, what a wonderful place it would be. ‘Jane,’ I hear you say, ‘she’s amazing, but really?’ Yes. Really. Recently I was in lovely cocktail bar, where the owners know me so well, they put a martini glass in the fridge when they see me walk through the door (see my earlier post, ‘lifetime secret shared’). A young couple were also sitting at the bar, and for some reason, we started talking about Celine. The guy said that he had been travelling in West Africa a couple of years ago, and that he and his friends had been stopped at a border check point. AK40 semi automatics were drawn on them. They were taken into a small hut at gun point. Things were looking grim… Then Celine Dion came on their radio. The dude at the bar said ‘it’s the only time he’s seen men with guns taking a three minute silence, with tears in their eyes.’ I can totally understand that. The dude at the bar said ‘I hate Celine Dion.’ Dude, she saved your life. I’m just saying. Actually, I did say, ‘if I’d been there, I would have known the song, filled them in on the words, then told them about the time I saw her live in Las Vegas.’ Who knows where we could have all ended up? Probably sharing a meal somewhere.

Which brings me to my small contribution to world peace. Get to know your neighbour. My current neighbour is from Korea. I had her in for a chocolate cake morning tea recently with her two year old. Let me tell you. Two year olds are the same worldwide. Tornados, and magnets to barbie dolls and anything that might be small, which can break. What amazed me is, that despite our age differences and our cultural differences, we bonded over food, our hatred of housework, our muffin tops (we are going to join the gym together). I firmly believe, people want the same things. A home, family, a job, a direction in life. Friends. To belong. We can all contribute to this by creating it in our own little corner of the world.

I guess what I’m trying to say is that, on the whole, I’ve found people are pretty much the same once you scratch the surface. It’s easy to pin labels on certain groups and demographics, and while some of the stereotypes are true, it’s much harder to hate each other once you’ve made a connection. Unless you don’t like Celine. Then we may have a problem…