Alaska, Perhaps The Smallest State!

http://www.wakeuptraining.co.uk/social-media-advantages/multiracial-hands-making-a-circle-3/

Since moving to Alaska, we've come to realize that the largest state, geographically speaking (larger than Texas, California, and Montana combined) may be the smallest state, in terms of connections. In 1929, a Hungarian writer, Frigyes Karinthy, developed a theory stating that any two people on the earth can be connected by a chain of acquaintances containing five or fewer intermediaries. While difficult to test this hypothesis, several experiments have been conducted in the past 50 years which seem to lend credence to this notion. http://whatis.techtarget.com/definition/0,,sid9_gci932596,00.html.

Liz and I brainstormed some of the uncanny connections we've found in AK for a few minutes and came up with over a dozen of these surprising relationship webs. Here are a few examples:

One of Liz's roommates from college, Megan (killed in the 2002 Bali bombing), was born in Fairbanks and grew up in Eagle River. Megan's father flew in the military with Chuck, who was one of the first people I (Brent) connected with in Girdwood. While doing Census work in Barrow, I met Mike, who as it turns out, was one of Megan's teachers 20-odd years ago. And my former employer, Jim, did mission/social work in Russia with Megan's mom, Sandy.

Dan and Kris-Ann pastor a church in Unalaska. While staying with them on a short vacation, we put together a number of connections. Dan and Kris-Ann pastored in the Pennsylvania town where I grew up. In fact, I changed buses in the parking lot of their church. In addition, the parents of one of my groomsmen, Phil, are Dan's godparents!

My colleague and mentor for over a decade, Don, has a son, Jeff, who lives just a mile or so away from us. Jeff was friends with our friend Vangie's dad, Jack. Vangie and I became friends while in seminary together. Jack was killed in the 1987 Ryan Air crash. In Girdwood, we pet sat and worked with Derek. While painting one day, Derek mentioned that he lost his father and brother in a plane crash. As it turns out, they were also among the 21 passengers on this plane.

While working Census in Kodiak, I attended a C&MA church. The pastor that greeted me was Matt, who I recognized immediately. Matt lived just down the hall from me in college.

Before I left to do Census work in Delta Junction, Liz called her parents and mentioned that I would be travelling to remote Alaska. They asked where. When Liz told them "Delta Junction," Liz's father, Ron exclaimed, I have some customers who moved up there. I connected with them over breakfast there while in town.

In Girdwood, I volunteered with and became friends with John. John teaches in Anchorage. Shane, one of the board members of the camp where we work, is an asst. principal at the same school. Early in our time at Girdwood, we had dinner with John's family and a neighbor, Anne. While in Barrow, 800 miles north, Anne was among those deployed to assist me with enumerating that area.

Our friends Matt and Laura went to college with another Matt, whose internship I supervised in seminary.

The list goes on, but you get the idea. There are a lot of connections here.

We can't prove it, but we would suspect that almost any 2 people in AK could be connected by 3 or fewer acquaintance intermediaries.

We think this "web of relationships" thing is more noticeable in Alaska for a number of reasons:

• Small population (700,000-ish).
• Tendency of Alaskans to reinvent themselves several times throughout their lives.
• Alaskan tendency to explore new places and have wide interests.
• Transplant nature of many Alaskans (most moved up here from somewhere else).
• Interconnectedness is sometimes necessary for survival up here.
• Alaska ranks 47th in terms of population (following Wyoming, Vermont, and North Dakota)
• Alaska has the least dense population (1.2 people per square mile). Wyoming is next with a pop. density of 5.49 people per square mile. NJ is the most dense with 1,170.64 people per square mile.

Business owners often indicate, "We have to treat people right. AK is a small state. Word gets around."

In the small state of Alaska, your character matters more than your education or previous work experience.