The power of seven

An idea has circulated lately about the power of the number seven. It is said that if any two people get into a conversation, that within seven questions and answers the two will find some connection to each other. It may be as simple as finding out that each person has visited a certain site, gone to a certain school, or shares an interest in some subject. I have tried this out several times and have never failed to have it work.

Of course both people need to be interested in the conversation and not just answer with a yes or no. But even then I believe the system would work if the questioner asked for the right information.

At the Elderhostels where I lead groups several times a year, I am always marveling at "the small world" we have.

Last week Lester attended with me and at the dinner table someone (from Minnesota) asked me just where Nevada was located. When I told him it was 100 miles south of Kansas City near the Kansas line he asked if that made it close to Fort Scott, Kan. Of course, I told him that where we lived was actually only 14 miles from Fort Scott. He mentioned that his sister had remarried and her new husband lived in Fort Scott. I asked what his name was and volunteered that Lester had been an associate minister at the United Methodist Church there several years ago. It turns out that his relative is a member there and Lester knew him very well. That only took four or five steps to find a connection.

Another leader at the Elderhostel was visiting with a guest from Columbia, Mo., who happened to mention that she thought a certain town in Michigan was so pretty when she had visited there last spring. Sylvia said she had been in that town recently also and had visited a relative there who had a gorgeous home with a view of a lake. The guest said she imagined it was pretty since her son lived in a big house overlooking a lake also. It turned out that it was the same person, and each lady had been there at the same time to attend a wedding. The two were not related but had this relative in common. That exchange only took about three steps before the connection was made.

My most common connection to guests is through Cottey College. But sometimes the way we pronounce the name of our town brings a connection. I have met people who either were from, or lived near, Nevada, Iowa; Nevada Ill.; or Nevada, Ohio, which is too small to get on my Atlas map. Each of them pronounces the name the right way, the way we do here in Nevada, Mo., of course.

Those exchanges usually only take about two steps.

The most outstanding example of this theory didn't happen until the end of the week's session. Two women who had not had occasion to sit near each other or engage in much conversation were reading poems that they had composed as a part of one of the classes. One woman mentioned the name of her elementary school in her poem. The other woman asked her where that school was located and it turned out that both women had attended the same elementary school in their home town far from each person's present location. They were about five years apart in age so they didn't know each other but they each knew friends of their siblings who were connected to the other woman. They also had some of the same teachers. They couldn't be pried apart after that connection was made.

My goal this week is to make seven new connections right here at home.