Celebrating Our Independence And Interdependence

Because our nation was born on Independence Day, independence is embedded in our national psyche as the defining characteristic of the United States of America. Geographically, culturally, and politically, America has been “a place apart” from its beginning. At various times we have both inspired and alarmed the world with our independent tendencies. This Fourth of July, 2003, we stand among all nations seemingly more independent than we have ever been, having looked inward for reserves of strength and resolve in response to the great injury inflicted on the nation by terrorists on September 11, 2001. Since that time, however, we have learned much about our interdependence in asserting our independent interests around the globe.

When our founding fathers declared this nation’s independence in July 1776, they were mostly separating themselves from the “repeated injuries and usurpations” of tyranny embodied in the heavy-handed rule of King George III. The still-young colonies were acutely aware of their own interdependence with each other and the world at large. On their laundry list of grievances was a deep resentment of the monarchy “for cutting off our trade with all parts of the world.” They recognized that interdependencies strengthen cultures and economies –– even ones born with an independent spirit. Today, when the world at large seeks to minimize and weaken the influence of a tyrannical regime, the first strategic option is always to isolate the dictator from the rest of the world. Societies connected with the world grow stronger and more open; societies cut off from the world grow weak and closed.

On this Fourth of July, we should celebrate our independence but also be mindful of our interdependencies, not just as a nation, but also as individuals. Each of our lives unfolds moment by moment only with the help of countless others. Take any moment –– this one, for example –– and think of the foresters who grew the trees, the loggers who cut them down, the plant workers who processed the pulp and paper, the chemists who created the ink, the engineers who created the hardware and software of the computer that created the letters of these words, the graphic artists who arranged them on the page, the pressmen who made thousands of copies, the postal workers and newsstand operators who distributed The Newtown Bee just so this thought of interdependence could emerge before you in this single, rather long, sentence. And when you are done with the paper, you can put it down on the table (who made that?) and move on to the next moment, which, when you think about it, unfolds only through the efforts of yet another incredibly diverse cast of characters.

We are, to be sure, an independent people, but we should always remember that it is our interdependence that makes it possible for us to be a truly great people. United is, after all, our nation’s first name.