What is The Golden Thread?

John Ritter (of course, I mean the famous American actor who starred in Three’s Company and many other things) wanted to be remembered as someone who tweaked the golden thread of humanity. It’s a thread which runs through races, generations, nationalities, and genders and which, if tweaked, can move and affect us all. It’s a concept I first heard of in an early John Ritter interview with Barbara Wood.  It forms the premise of this website, which I have set up to honour John Ritter and to help those who tweak the thread get extra reach and get their message out there to a wider audience.

Barbara Wood puts the definition of it well here, in discussing the interview that she did with John in terms of gifts that he had given her: “The second gift he gave me was something he shared with me at the luncheon table – an interesting personal philosophy. John Ritter told me that he believed a golden thread connects all human beings together that goes through him to me and out to the others at our table, and from there to everyone else in the ballroom, coming back to him. He said we all have this golden connecting thread and that when we pluck it, we affect everyone else. We can make them laugh or cry or give them something to think about. A golden thread, he said, that he “plucked” when he was acting, and that he believed I “pluck” through my writing.”

John Ritter passed away in 2003 – before the internet properly got off the ground. The site is my way of honouring a man I never met but who profoundly impacted my life from the other side of the world. I believe he would have been overwhelmed by the enormity
of what the internet can do in general, and in particular, how we can use it to help those who tweak the golden thread through their music, acting, art and writing to spread their message.  I’m here, and I can do that. So I actively reach out to musicians, artists, actors – those who move us and make us THINK.

More about the site here.

The site is completely done voluntarily by me from design to content. Please contact me if you have ideas about helping making it better.

There are many interviews on this site where you can read about people who tweak the golden thread.  I would love to hear what the interviews make you feel, and you can post on Facebook or drop me a line

The twitter / Facebook hashtag to use when posting about this is #tweakthegoldenthread and please tag me @Popspeaking so I can RT.