BETWEEN THE LINES: SIX DEGREES OF SEPARATION PROVES EVERYTHING IS RELATED

Name any movie and within minutes someone nearby can rattle off six titles or less before bringing the cast of characters to rest at Kevin Bacon. The game illustrates a simple theory called the six degrees of separation.

The theory says that everyone is related by six degrees. It's been the subject of a play and movie and, of course, the Kevin Bacon game. Now it has become a Web site: sixdegrees.com

I didn't need a Web site, parlor game or a movie to explain this phenomenon to me. I only had to look at my life to figure it out.

You see, I'm pretty certain my life can prove the theory that everyone is related by six degrees of separation, commonly referred to as living in a "small world."

I'm constantly running into people who know other friends or relatives. In this job where I meet new people each week, it doesn't seem too unusual that I'd run into someone I know or who knows of me. But with surprising frequency I'm finding that the world around me is getting smaller.

Over the weekend, I attended the wedding of a high school classmate. I had asked my friend Marc to attend as my date, thinking it unlikely that he'd know anyone else but me at the ceremony.

Of course, I was wrong.

He and another guest -- a friend of the groom -- had worked together on an election campaign two years ago. I was the one left out since I knew very few people other than the bride and her family.

Just about a week ago, I had a similar "small world" experience. My editor came back from a United Way luncheon and said he'd met someone I know. I gave him a puzzled look since I had no guess as to who it might be. It turned out that he had met my father.

These things seem to happen a lot -- one group of people I know making acquaintances with another group of people I know. I guess my circle of friends and acquaintances is smaller than I thought or at least more prone to overlap.

I guess it's just part of being connected. After all, knowing all the right people seems to have worked to my advantage a few times in the past. It's gotten me at least two jobs, some good deals on car repairs and even approval on a home loan. It if weren't for those six degrees of separation, I don't know how I'd survive.

Essentially, that's what the sixdegrees.com Web site is all about. People use it to create networks of friends or business associates. And sometimes it helps in finding apartments, travel contacts and maybe a new friend or two.

Now if I could just put this theory to work and find a date, I'd really be set.

~Laura Johnston is a copy editor for the Southeast Missourian.