The theory of Six Degrees of Separation is that everything you want and anyone you want to meet are only six steps or six people away.
Or otherwise, it’s the saying ‘it’s a small world’ – especially in this day and age of globalisation and the internet. As an example of this, I’ve been on the opposite side of the planet to where I live when travelling, when I’ve met someone who knows someone that I know as well – and it’s happened more than once. It’s a complete spinout, but it just shows how connected everything in the world is to each other.
Photo sourced from Wikipedia
And it’s not just the ordinary person that we might have a connection with. It could be with any person on the planet, now matter how famous or influential they are.
I found this out in August 2013 when I undertook a trip to South Africa and went to visit Robben Island, off the coast of Cape Town. I found out that I was actually only one degree of separation from Nelson Mandela – that’s right, the former South African president and one of the biggest icons of the twentieth century (this was also at a time when he was still around).
Ok, so how was I only one degree of separation away from Nelson Mandela? This is where I briefly met Nelson Mandela’s former guard at Robben Island – Christo Brand.
Christo started his warden days as a teenager and eventually became one of Mandela’s closest friends.
My Six Degrees of Separation – When it becomes only one away from Nelson Mandela
Christo wrote a book about his experiences with Mandela, called Mandela: My Prisoner, My Friend.
Anyway, here is a short group interview that I filmed which proves I was only one degree of separation away:
[youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qp4B1HhyecY[/youtube]
Okay, maybe I was drawing a long bow, but sometimes, you just never know where your connections might lead you to!
The moral of the story is – you just never know who you might meet on your travels, and what experiences that might lead on from them.