Other than using the expression "it's a small world" with its traditional meaning, in what other ways do YOU believe our world is indeed a small one?

It’s a small world means several things to me.

People are interconnected in more ways than we realize. I meet people and find out they lived in the same town I did as a child. Or, their sibling is married to my best friends aunt. Weird connections. It’s one reason my mom was right, never say anything negative about someone else, you never know who they know or who they are related to.

A small world also when you realize you have things in common with someone else. Work, interests, experiences, etc. It can even be health problems, hard times. Any way that you connect with someone can feel like a small world, especially when it is something rare.

We can fly anywhere in less than a day, and people travel from the other side of the world all the time. Distant places are not so distant.

Running into people in unlikely places gives a small world feeling. I randomly ran into someone I knew when I was vacationing in Las Vegas. My aunt ran into someone she knew while travelling in Europe many years ago. A girlfriend of mine from TN moved to Tampa 6 months before I did. Many years ago another friend of mine from when I lived in Raleigh moved 6 months after I did to the same place (within a half hour) in FL on the east coast of the state. I’ve moved back and forth to FL a few times.

There are very few unexplored places left, if any.
The world’s resources are becoming insufficient to support us.
Communication with people anywhere in the world is instantaneous.
The planet can be crossed in a day.
We have seen the world from space. It is a tiny speck.

“It’s a small world, but I wouldn’t want to have to paint it.” Stephen Wright.

Two words: The Internet.

I heard that discarded electronics are being sent to China where they are melted down in small toxic home businesses for their component parts. Then they are shipped back to America for use. That’s a small world to me.

Fluther.

You could be my mext door neighbor, or you could live in Dubai.

I can do you one better, @janbb.

I worked in a factory making meal bowls very similar to mac and cheese. Peel the cover, add water, and nuke.

The Dollar store started selling a competitor – assembled in China from ingredients made in the U.S..

I learned a long time ago never to bad mouth someone to someone else, it is amazing how often two random acquaintances will know each other. It’s happened enough so that I don’t say negative things.

I can click-out of here right now, and within 90 seconds be sitting at a poker table with players from Taiwan, New Zealand, Aruba, Belgium and some fish camp in Nova Scotia.

They will likely take all my money, but I’ll chalk that up to doing my bit for international diplomacy…

P.S. It is probably a good policy to never say negative things about others regardless of whether or not they might hear about it.