"If the past is replayed too fast, life seems futile, and humanity resembles water flowing from a tap, straight down the drain. A film of history for today needs to be in slow motion, showing every person who ever lived as a star, though dimly visible in a night sky, a history still unexplored" - Theodore Zeldin, An Intimate History of Humanity
A call to action. Time to explore these unexplored histories together.
"Behind every man now alive stand 30 ghosts, for that is the ratio by which the dead outnumber the living", so claimed Arthur C Clarke in 2001: A Space Odyssey.
Population growth over the past 40 years means that, on average. we each only have about 15 ghosts to meet (i.e. 107bn/7bn). A buddy system for all the dead would surely yield fascination, cultural understanding and perhaps, just perhaps, a sense of us all being children of those two parents, 50,000+ years ago.
This wouldn't solve all problems, of course, as close family members tend to fall out more than most, but still, it might help lessen racial discrimination, encourage empathy for the economically disadvantaged and bring us just that little bit closer together.
"And to know that all the blessed dead are standing about you and watching" - Kahlil Gibran, The Prophet
