Beyond Independence

Two hundred and thirty years ago, when the Colonies decided they would be American and not English by throwing off the tyrannies of King George III, they formally freed themselves in a Declaration of Independence. Ironically, they suddenly became utterly dependent on each other, and to some extent the French, to successfully weather the political and military consequences of that declaration.

Although we think of independence as a defining characteristic of both our country and our citizens, our greatest achievements seem always to come in that rugged terrain beyond independence where survival and transcendence require us to depend on one another — hang together, or hang separately, as Benjamin Franklin so aptly put it.

But what about today, when achieving the American Dream means competing, and competing hard, to rise above the crowd, to distinguish ourselves from the rest of the pack, to achieve the kind of freedom and independence conferred by success and wealth? Too often in business, in politics, and even in athletics, success is a take-no-prisoners process that sometimes involves tearing competitors down as much as building yourself up. This kind of independence is shallow rooted, a bit wobbly in the wind, and definitely not the iconic independence embodied in that 18th Century declaration we celebrate on July 4. Most of us know the real thing when we see it.

And we saw the real thing this week when the richest man in the world, Bill Gates, got together with the second richest man in the world, Warren Buffett, to announce that they were joining forces, not for the benefit of themselves or their respective companies, but for the benefit of the world’s poorest, sickest, and most dependent people. Mr Buffett’s incredible $31 billion gift to the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation effectively doubled the resources of the world’s largest philanthropic organization, raising the distinct possibility of eliminating one disease (malaria) and finding a vaccine for another (AIDS) that each year kill hundreds of thousands of people — too many of them children.

These two men, wealthy beyond most Americans’ wildest dreams, have each attained near absolute freedom and independence for themselves. But they have come to understand that the ultimate prize lies beyond personal wealth, beyond corporate success, and even beyond independence. It comes in embracing the interdependence of all people, no matter how far removed they are in circumstance and suffering from our daily lives.

When Mr Buffett was asked about giving away his vast fortune rather than leaving it all to his children, he said he had decided to leave his kids “enough to do anything, but not enough to do nothing.” This view of legacy is useful to the rest of us as we consider on Independence Day our obligations as a free and independent people. We are free to do anything, but in the face of great suffering and need, we are not free to do nothing.