Publisher’s Letter
Interdependency
A
s a summer employee at Dravo Construction during my college years, my starting time at the phosphate mine where I clocked in was 6 am. It was a mountainous 45-minute drive to the job and required getting up in total darkness. Most days my brother and I wanted to roll over for just a few extra minutes of shut-eye. However, this did not happen as my Dad had delineated the importance of being on time. At the manufacturing facility that Dravo mined for, he proclaimed how smooth production only happened when everyone was present. Each job and person was dependent on another to complete the product assembly line. Unless you are a sloth or in a total meditative state we depend on one another to get us through most days of our lives. Now more than ever, the whole world realizes how much we rely on people halfway across the world to feed us, clothe us, and supply our cars and technology. No one could ever have imagined the repercussions of what happens when production stops for a while. Without writers and printers and people that make the paper and mail the magazines, nothing would happen in my business. Universities and our learning institutions depend on donors and scholarships to survive and fund the education of many brilliant minds today. We count on our soldiers to protect us as they depend on one another in the battlefield. Countries rely on treaties and depend on their allies to help defend and protect their homelands. Countries rely on other countries for their food, energy and even weapons of war. Families and friends depend on each other for growth and happiness. With a deadly pandemic in full kill mode, at no time did anyone stop to realize what a magnanimous interference shutdowns would have on our mental health as well as the supply chain. Interdependency is counting on a friend for support. Children depend on their parents for love and security, education, emotional and financial support. As is the case with many families this interdependency reverses itself as the child becomes the adult and the parents begin aging. There is a lot of interdependencies that get tested each and every day. While it seems that everything can be done by computer we still depend on one another to get things done.
6 | Mv | May + June 2022
