There's Just Us.

Have you ever wondered how you became you? No really? I know it's seems like a ridiculous question but bear with me for a moment.
I'm sitting in a coffee shop right now writing on a computer that has the dimensions and weight of a medium sized book. I'm streaming music while checking my e-mail, Facebook, and Twitter accounts which are all being delivered to me instantly and invisibly, through the ether, by a satellite in space. In my pocket is an even smaller computer, about the size of a pack of cigarettes. This one gives me the ability to talk to people all over the planet, take pictures in California and send them to my Mom in Florida with the push of a button, translate languages, knows my exact location, and can direct me to wherever I want to go. I'm drinking a cup of coffee that was imported from Kenya, which I paid for with a piece of plastic that instantly deducted the cost from my bank account that contains more money than most people in this world will make this year, maybe for a few years, and believe me when I tell you, by American standards, I am really, really poor. I'm surrounded by a dozen or so people doing exactly what I am doing and not one of us is concerned in the slightest with when or how our next meal will arrive. Even the homeless guy who is panhandling outside has numerous options for obtaining food daily.
Somehow, while all this is going on over here, just a plane ride away, an altogether different reality exists. Most of Africa hasn't changed that much in thousands of years. Millions of people are still dealing with life on a much more primal level. Something as seemingly trivial to us as the weather, completely dictates the course of their lives. If famine, drought or too much rain occur there simply just is no food. There are numerous regions all over the continent where the scarcity of water is so intense, that there are actual wars being fought for the right to control water sources, think about how many times you flushed the toilet today alone.
How did this happen? How am I me and not you? Maybe I'm oversimplifying things but the fact that my consciousness, because when you boil it down, that's the truest essence of who we are, come to rest in this body, at this time, in this place? Was it just some cosmic accident, a complete roll of the dice, if you will? Is there a plan of some sort, one that's purpose just hasn't been revealed yet? I truly have no answers. The one thing I am sure of is this, there really is no "I", "we", or "them", there is just us. The belief that what happens "over there" doesn't effect us "over here" is the thought of an immature, crippled mind. What is happening over there IS happening here, it's just over there geographically. Falling into the traps of irrational nationalism, indifference, and self obsession do nothing but destroy the soul. When a person's mind is diseased by these thoughts, they can then subconsciously asses the value of an individual's life and act accordingly. The majority of the problems the human race faces today, are directly linked to the fact that we are still hanging on to the archaic notion that "our" team is better than "theirs" and somehow more deserving of a better quality of life.
Think about this, the development of most of the world technologically, socially, culturally, and individually has suffered great set backs and has literally been redirected so that we can enjoy the lives that we constantly complain about. I know this sounds like some hippie utopia nonsense and maybe it is. The difficulties in pulling yourself away from the prevailing mindset are ever present and real. It's hard to transcend the limitations imposed by our society, to become a healthy, fully formed, independent thinker, but the rewards of pursuing these ideals are immediate and I believe, eternal.