As I shared in my 2021 blog post Us and them, Denmark does a remarkable job at creating videos to remind its citizens that they have more in common with their neighbours than they might realize. In 2017, Denmark's TV 2 (a government-owned broadcast and subscription television station) produced a video called All that we share, which suggests: "Maybe there's more that brings us together than we think."

In 2019, Denmark's TV 2 created a follow-up video: All that we share - connected. This one focuses on strangers who didn't realize they had something in common.

Standing in a circle, the people invited to participate in the video don't know that they have something in common with at least one other person in the group. The host asks Thomas and Aske to stand facing each other in the centre of the circle. She tells Thomas that he lives in the house where Aske grew up. They smile and compare notes on their experiences in the house. Thomas returns to the circle, and the host calls on Mathilde to join her and Aske in the middle of the circle. She informs the two young people that they have previously stood face to face—when they were 12 years old and playing on opposing rugby teams. Aske rejoins the circle, and the host invites Inger to stand opposite Mathilde. She tells Mathilde that the first person in the world to see her was Inger, to whom Mathilde asks, "You were my midwife?" Inger smiles and they hug.

The stories of unknown connections continue. Knud saved Anna's husband after he collapsed from a heart attack while jogging. Thomas helped put out a fire at Eva's place. "Altamon" and "Lil Salt" have been gaming together online for four years but have never met.

The narrator states: "Just below the surface, a total stranger can turn out to be someone you're actually connected to...someone who rouses forgotten memories...someone who reminds you that you're not alone." He continues: "If we approach each other, we might find out that we share the same destiny."

For me, the most touching stories were those of Rana and Maher, who came to Denmark from Syria in 2015, and Dorrit and Jan, whose own refugee story occurred during the Second World War. Dorrit and Jan meet Rikke, whose great-grandfather risked his life by sailing Jan to Sweden in October 1943.

The narrator states: "It's easy to mind your own business. It takes a little more effort to mind the community. But doesn't the feeling of having something in common, something that connects us, make it all worthwhile?"

Despite the fact that the 2019 video is now five years old, I became aware of it only recently, thanks to a link in social media. I like to think that we have more in common than we sometimes realize.