Some thoughts on Independence and Interdependence....
"It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs, who comes short again and again, because there is no effort without error and shortcoming; but who does actually strive to do the deeds; who knows great enthusiasms, the great devotions; who spends himself in a worthy cause; who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement, and who at the worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who neither know victory nor defeat.
That was Teddy Roosevelt speaking at the Sorbonne over a hundred years ago in 1910 and his words still ring true today pointing the way for our independent thought and action undeterred by critics or those who say it can't be done. (Another of my favorite sayings, though the author is unknown: "Will those who keep saying it can't be done get out of the way of those who are doing it!")
And a short but pregnant verse from Maya Angelou pointing us to the path of interdependence.
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One of the great challenges of life for an individual, a family, and community, a nation and the world is to learn the balance between independence and interdependence--definitely still a work in progress for our nation on the eve of its Independence Day celebrations.