It's a Small World

It’s a Small World

One of the most mind-numbing ear-worms is the Disney song, “It’s a Small World (After All)." Just reading the title will have you singing all day. With bouncy, simple, and infectious lyrics and melody, the song invades the brain and touches the heart. 

It’s a world of laughter, a world of tears. It’s a world of hope and a world of fears. There’s so much that we share, that it’s time we’re aware, it’s a small world after all. 

The song written by Robert and Richard Sherman and commissioned by Walt Disney to promote international unity has a theme of global peace. Inspired by fears caused by the 1962 Cuban Missile Crisis, the brothers wrote a song that could be easily translated into several languages with a simple unifying message. Debuting on the world’s scene at the 1964 New York World’s Fair, singing animatronic children, dressed in native clothing from around the world, burned the song into our collective memories.

International expositions or World’s Fairs began on a grand scale in France in 1844.  Conceived to “showcase the achievements of nations,” fairs provided a global stage for nations, authors, inventors, scientists, musicians, and political systems. Prince Albert’s 1851 “Great Exhibition” showcased manufactured goods and industrial advancements as well as the Crystal Palace built to exhibit them. The 1939 New York World’s Fair focused on a cultural exchange between nations with its theme, “Building the World of Tomorrow.”

I visited the 1964 New York World’s Fair with my grandmother. The fair’s theme was “Peace Through Understanding.” Holding Nonna’s hand, I boarded one of the little boats which floated visitors into a world of wonders. Animated figures dressed as children from around the world sang the same song in each of their native languages. The effect was mesmerizing. I bounced out of the exhibit singing the song which nestles in my brain until this day.  

There is just one moon and one golden sun, and a smile means friendship to ev’ryone. Though the oceans are wide and the mountains divide, it’s a small world after all.

The message was clear to even a little child: We are more the same than different. We are one family. We can sing together. We can hold hands. We share this world. We can love one another.

The theme of the 1964 “Children of the World” exhibit was connecting hearts.

Not much remains of the fairground in Flushing Meadows. But the song and spirit of one exhibit lingers in many hearts. We all laugh and cry. We all hope and fear. We share this world. Let us join hands and hearts and sing together. It is a small world, after all.