Mastering the Art of Interdependence
Our Lives Depend On Each Other
Estimated reading time: 2 minutes, 2 secondsLooking up from my iPad, I repeated my offer, “Can I help you?”
The two previous times, the young woman had walked past me as she tried to read the signs. Her cold response had been so negative I would not have been faulted for not offering my assistance.
“OK, I am looking for this address? Can you help me find it?”
I responded affirmatively and taking the small paper with the address, I quickly explained how to find the location.
“I am going in the same direction. I can help carry one of the boxes for you?”
She seemed reluctant but also pleased with the offer of help.
“We must help each other because we are interdependent,’ was my best response, even if it did not convince her to accept my assistance.
I thought about this recent conversation and hundreds of others when I read Alissa Quart‘s essay “Can We Put an End to America’s Most Dangerous Myth?” in the NY Times.
Her guest essay strongly supports “the art of dependence.”
“The art of dependence” means accepting aid with grace and, crucially, recognizing the importance of others. It takes dignity and skill to lean on friends, loved ones, and colleagues — and even on the state.
I fully agree with Ms. Quart, the author of Bootstrapped: Liberating Ourselves from the American Dream, although I would define it as the art of interdependence.
Although I have lived alone since Jan died, I am not alone. I live in an interdependent world.
I could not lift myself during my grief journey by my bootstraps. The only way to survive was to learn to accept help from others and offer support to them.
Family, friends, neighbors, and a chosen family of widows helped me grow around my grief.
We are either here for each other or alone and living in fear.
I choose to live entirely interdependent in the world!
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Building Community Power in Newark, NJ
Our Lives Depend On Each Other
Estimated reading time: 2 minutes, 2 secondsAlissa Quart and I would highlight the interdependent organizing of Jennifer Made, a Newark, New Jersey native who formed the Newark Community Action Network. This organization provides warm meals and resources to the community.
Jennifer started organizing at 13 and formed Newark-CAN years ago after she made a couple of meals for a needy woman. During each organization’s “Community Servings,” Newark-CAN provides meals to up to 175 folks.