“Economically, [...] interdependence is evident. No developed nation can stand alone amid the complex web of existing monetary and trade arrangements. [...] [D]espite the disparities of power and wealth, a model of interdependence is a more accurate reflection of world realities than a picture of autonomous sovereign units, each in absolute control of its own destiny. Demographically and socially the same interdependence appears. The population problem, the emigration problems, the race problem [and environmental pollution] all defy national borders and cannot be solved by national means.”
Our Quote of the Week describes how our interdependence safeguards the welfare and dignity of all.
This week, we return to Sargent Shriver’s Speech at the University of Notre Dame on Civil & Human Rights, a landmark speech that lays out Shriver’s vision for a more just and peaceful world. It is important to notice that when he describes human interdependence, which we would define not just as the acknowledgement of our connectedness and dependence on each other, but also our ability to cooperate, Shriver is not describing what should be; he is describing what is. He refers to interdependence as “a more accurate reflection of world realities than a picture of autonomous sovereign units, each in absolute control of its own destiny.” We are all, Sargent Shriver reminds us, inextricably connected, and the only way we can all thrive is through mutual respect and cooperation.
Notice, too, that Sargent Shriver repeats a key word, universal, several times in the speech, making assertions about the rights of all human beings everywhere. He makes the case that we all have the right to live in freedom, with dignity and access to justice. If then, we all have the same rights, and we are all connected, it stands to reason that a large-scale attack on anyone’s rights is an affront to all of us, and we must work together to address it.
Shriver acknowledges that although human beings can thrive if they act to preserve each other’s best interests, the will to do so may be lacking. And in cases where we do decide to act unilaterally, the consequence is that we can neither solve our biggest challenges, nor protect human rights.
“Yet today a moral, political and psychological unity is absent. Thus we find ourselves incapable politically or psychologically of solving the problems we face. Energy, population, food, money, jobs, trade, even health, defy solution. We have no more than a marginal possibility of protecting human rights and distributing human resources in a just manner, if we act alone.”
May Sargent Shriver’s words inspire us today. May we strengthen our bonds with each other, and may we stand up against efforts to isolate ourselves, to marginalize others, or to favor short-term benefits for the few at the expense of the many.
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