Celebrating interdependence…

As our world becomes smaller and smaller this truth becomes more and more important.

The whole idea of compassion is based on a keen awareness of the interdependence of all these living beings, which are all part of one another, and all involved in one another. – Thomas Merton

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Interdependence is and ought to be as much the ideal of man as self-sufficiency. Man is a social being. — Mahatma Gandhi

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Interdependence is a fact, it’s not an opinion. — Peter Coyote

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I have an interesting perspective on depending on others. I think it gives people a chance to serve. And I’m not so much big on independence, as I am on interdependence. I’m not talking about co-dependency, I’m talking about giving people the opportunity to practicing love with its sleeves rolled up. — Joni Eareckson Tada

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We are all in the same boat, in a stormy sea, and we owe each other a terrible loyalty.― G.K. Chesterton

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None of us can ever save himself; we are the instruments of one another’s salvation, and only by the hope that we give to others do we lift ourselves out of the darkness into light.  ― Dean Koontz

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All have their worth and each contributes to the worth of the others. ― J.R.R. Tolkien, The Silmarillion

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The task that remains is to cope with our interdependence – to see ourselves reflected in every other human being and to respect and honor our differences. ― Melba Pattillo Beals, Warriors Don’t Cry: The Searing Memoir of the Battle to Integrate Little Rock’s Central High

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Talking about independence makes me wonder, Who is truly independent in this world? A farmer who grows food is dependent on a baker, a barber, a doctor, and so on. A doctor is dependent on other people of different professions in order to survive. I am dependent and will be dependent on certain caregivers and therapists. Those caregivers and therapists need people like me to earn their bread and butter and draw their salaries. So no one is doing any favors when choosing whatever his means of livelihood is. ― Tito Rajarshi Mukhopadhyay, How Can I Talk If My Lips Don’t Move?: Inside My Autistic Mind