Relationships

The fountains mingle with the river

And the rivers with the Ocean,

The winds of Heaven mix forever

With a sweet emotion;

Nothing in the world is single;

All things by a law divine

In one spirit meet and mingle.

Why not I with thine?

See the mountains kiss high Heaven

And the waves clasp one another;

No sister flower would be forgiven

If it disdained its brother."

---Percy Shelly

(1792-1832)

In all of nature we see the cooperation of one element with another. Nothing, in all of nature is independent of, isolated from, all other things in nature.

"Nothing in the world is single;

All things by a law divine

In one spirit meet and mingle."

Yet we humans, despite the prophetic voices of wisdom, believe we alone can be independent of any and all others. We can't. No matter how much money we might make and accumulate or how powerful we may become, we're dependent on others --- factory workers, truck drivers, packagers, distributors --- the list could go on and on.

Realizing we're all dependent on each other, from the most lowly to the most high, may we show honor for any and all others. So may it be.