Happy Interdependence Day!
On the myth of independence, and the need to disrupt it
Hi all, this week’s post is coming to you a few days early on account of today being the fourth of July.
I want to talk about “independence” on Independence Day. I’ve come to believe that independence is a myth, and one that costs us a lot to believe in.
The more we learn about the world, in its infinite bigness and smallness, we understand that everything is connected. The building blocks of life are a series of interconnected relationships that, when something is askew, creates catastrophe. For Christians who believe in the Trinity, this means that God is, in God’s very essence, a relationship of three interdependent “persons”. Not even God is “independent!”
In the last several years, we’ve seen how quickly our myths about independence come crashing down, and our need to support and protect our neighbors becomes paramount.
I’ve been fortunate to learn this lesson again and again from unhoused people. While it is be disingenuous and dangerous to glamorize the experience of homelessness for its inherent risk and the ways we heap misery upon those who experience, I have come to understand a deep truth about it: like many marginalized communities throughout history, unhoused people have been able to carve out experiences of joy, flourishing, and resilience amidst their oppression, due in large part to their ability to depend on one another—on community.
There is joy in community, in interdependence—so many of us, through privilege, shield ourselves from believing we need each other, and suffer isolation and loneliness because of it. It’s a sign of how lost our world is, that the marginalized find community through shared oppression, and the privilege suffer loneliness amidst all the resources. I wonder if this is partly what Jesus meant when he said “Blessed are the poor.”
As a way of personally ritualizing and practicing interdependence, I have decided that July 4th is “Interdependence Day,” and that my family and I will take time during the afternoon, (often one of the hottest of the year,) to deliver cold water and gatorade to unhoused people. This isn’t a paternalistic act to further indicate “their” dependence on “me,” but an acknowledgment and practice of our mutual dependence. It’s an act that says We need each other, and our community is not healthy until everyone is taken care of.
In what ways will you acknowledge our interdependence today?
kevin