The Power of Six

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The Power of Six
by Allee A.

Some believe it is just a game and others believe that it is a legitimate theory. The Six Degrees of Separation.
The theory that everyone on Earth is connected to one another in 6 steps or less. Everyone is intertwined with
someone, who is linked to someone else, who knows somebody, which results in everyone being tied together. I
believe that the Six Degrees of Separation is an actual theory and we all do really live in a “small world”.

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It’s a normal Wednesday afternoon and I go to check my e-mail. It’s the same ol’ thing: buff bulletins, junk mail,
and the usual three or four e-mails from Gramma. The usual three or four e-mails from Gramma go a little
something like this…” If you don’t send this to 10 people you love then you will have bad luck” or “If you support a
cure to cancer, send to everyone in your address book!” These chain e-mails, that most people do not really pay
attention to and sometimes delete without reading, are the ones that support the simple idea of the Six Degrees of
Separation. Looking back…the e-mail for supporting a cure to cancer could have, using the Six Degrees of
Separation, linked me to Lance Armstrong.

The Six Degrees of Separation can be applied or incorporated in anyone’s life; it happens to work easily in mine.
I was on MySpace about one month ago and I came across a picture where my good friend was with one of my
cousins. I began to think over how they knew each other. I asked and it turned out she was a cousin to him as well. I
was so confused as to how we were related and how the kid in the picture was a cousin to the both of us. We figured
out that she is a cousin to him on one side of the family while I’m a cousin to him on the other side. This is a small
world where one of my good friends is a cousin to one of my cousins, which results in only 3 steps; my friend, the
intermediate, and myself.

The Six Degrees of Separation links people together that have never known or still don’t know each other. People
are associated with one another through forwarded e-mails or even by a teacher who knows a famous person. The
possibilities of being connected are endless. Whichever the situation may be, it solidifies the idea that people around
the world are connected in one way or another. Without even being aware, people are a part of the Six Degrees of
Separation everyday. It is automatically incorporated into someone’s life and it is their decision whether or not to
exercise the Six Degrees of Separation. I believe in the Power of Six, the power to bring people
together in such a way that everyone is united and “holding hands” around this, so called, “small world”.