Independence?

The more "independent" I become the more I realize we really don't do things completely alone except for perhaps bodily functions, but even then if you are going in a public restroom you could be having someone a few stalls down "going" with you!

The reason I thought about this today was because I did the pool at Cardinal Hill by myself today! It was independent in the fact that my physical therapist didn't suit up and get into the water with me. However, she was there to talk to me and give me moral support while I did my exercises. Once I was out of the pool it hit me just how "independent" we are because we are actually depending on other people to help us be independent.

Let me explain:

In order for me to do the pool independently I need to be lowered into the pool on a lift. Since I cannot get into the pool and operate the controls, someone works the controls and lowers me into the water. This really doesn't mean I did this independently, but on the other hand it does.

What about opening doors or going to the post office? If you hands are full you really appreciate someone holding the door open for you, and even though the post office is slow it seems we still need the people behind the desks in order to fill out forms and pay for parcels, etc. And we go to the grocery store but how much harder would it be if we had to stock the shelves ourselves in order to do our grocery shopping?

As I really am more independent in my life, I realize more and more just how much we actually depend on each other in order to have our life with all of its triumphs and failures. This doesn't make me sad, though, because it brings forth a unity of people, of human kind and actually, if you look at it, makes us realize we are not living in a bubble. People are everywhere helping us live our independent lives, and helping us keep human kind united.