That's what my friend Ai Li wrote about the Wishing Star you see hanging from my iBook in this photo of a photo taken by another of my friends, Guenter Eh. How could I not have hope for the world when I see what this one small corner of it can do. Here on PBase we make friends from across the globe, friends who share the common language of photography and the language of the heart. I don't know about you, but I am as conscious of what time it is in Singapore, Tehran, Frankfurt, Lyon, Hong Kong, London, Cairo, Adelaide, Jerusalem, Madrid and Moscow as I am of what time it is here in Detroit. When I wake in the night, in my mind's eye I can see Ai Li hard at work in Singapore or Guenter waking up in Frankfurt. There are no more barriers between us. Choices made by our country's leaders affect the fate of people we know and love. There are no more strangers; we are all connected. And here at least, we manage to get along whatever our politics, religion, race, language, age. Of course we don't always do it as well as we'd like. Sometimes people get hurt. But that is the nature of relationships. For we are in relationship. We care what our PBase sisters and brothers think. That's why they can hurt us. If we didn't care, nothing they did would matter. Hopefully, when things go bad, we try to work it out. That's what gives me hope, that we do better than our countries' leaders at reaching out to one another, at forgiving when necessary, at not turning to violence when we disagree. Yes, Ai Li, I have hope for a better world...thanks to you and all the wonderful friends I have made here on PBase. Now we just need to show the world how it is done!