“We need Joy as we need air. We need Love as we need water. We need each other as we need the earth we share.”
~Maya Angelou
We need others. We need people to encourage us, to mentor us, to advise us, and to help us.
“Life doesn’t make any sense without interdependence. We need each other, and the sooner we learn that, the better for us all.”
~Erik Erikson
Courage Through Interdependence
Many consider themselves fiercely independent. Asking for help or admitting that something is hard or that there are things we cannot do is tough. Admitting or acknowledging that we are going through a tough season in life is scary. We might think asking for help or admitting a challenge makes us look weak or incompetent.
“We all need grace in the face of each other.
~LeCrae
I know this represented me and my attitude for many years… until the past few years when I was fortunate to find friends who helped me understand that I need to give myself grace, while I also giving this to others. Having the courage to recognize the human condition that we truly need each other is powerful and courageous. It is courageous because even though we need others, we might not receive, or we might not receive what we really need.
We have to actually learn to ask, and to ask specifically for what we need. We also have to recognize that everyone is not in a place to give. The wonder of that recognition is to also realize we are not always in a place to give. Life has seasons and challenges.
“I can do things you cannot. You can do things I cannot. Together we can do great things.”
~Mother Teresa
Sometimes we are the helper and sometimes we are the one who needs the help. But, always we have the opportunity to make a positive impact in other’s lives, because allowing others to give to us is as much of a blessing as we experience when helping others.
“Being human, we are imperfect. That’s why we need each other. To catch each other when we falter. To encourage each other when we lose heart. Some may lead; others may follow; but none of us can go it alone.”
~Hillary Clinton
“Do your little bit of good wherever you are; it’s those little bits of good put together that overwhelm the world.”
~Desmond Tutu
A Story About 3 Little Bees
While I was writing this blog post, the following came across my Facebook timeline… and I knew I had to share it. The author is unknown, but it is a powerful analogy of the power we all have to help each other.
“My dad has bees. Today I went to his house and he showed me all of the honey he had gotten from the hives. He took the lid off of a 5 gallon bucket full of honey and on top of the honey there were 3 little bees, struggling. They were covered in sticky honey and drowning. I asked him if we could help them and he said he was sure they wouldn’t survive. Casualties of honey collection I suppose.
I asked him again if we could at least get them out and kill them quickly, after all he was the one who taught me to put a suffering animal (or bug) out of its misery. He finally conceded and scooped the bees out of the bucket. He put them in an empty yogurt container and put the plastic container outside. Because he had disrupted the hive with the earlier honey collection, there were bees flying all over outside.
We put the 3 little bees in the container on a bench and left them to their fate. My dad called me out a little while later to show me what was happening. These three little bees were surrounded by all of their sisters (all of the bees are females) and they were cleaning the sticky nearly dead bees, helping them to get all of the honey off of their bodies. We came back a short time later and there was only one little bee left in the container. She was still being tended to by her sisters.
When it was time for me to leave we checked one last time and all three of the bees had been cleaned off enough to fly away and the container was empty.
Those three little bees lived because they were surrounded by family and friends who would not give up on them, family and friends who refused to let them drown in their own stickiness and resolved to help until the last little bee could be set free.
Bee Sisters. Bee Peers. Bee Teammates. We could all learn a thing or two from these bees.
Bee kind always.”
“Alone we can do so little, together we can do so much.”
~Helen Keller
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Connecting With Sylvia:
- Facebook: @Sylvia Stinson-Perez
- Twitter: @SylviaSPerez101
- American Foundation for the Blind: afb.org
Author Bio
Sylvia Stinson-Perez has spent her career in the blindness field, and is the Chief Programs Officer for the American Foundation for the Blind. Sylvia believes the authentic shared experience of living with vision loss can lead to the development of bold confidence in living with blindness. She loves helping others find their beauty and courage on this journey.
Sylvia has Master’s degrees in Social Work, Visual Disabilities Rehabilitation, and Business Administration. Sylvia is blind as a result of Retinitis Pigmentosa (RP), however, she believes that everyone should have the opportunity to achieve their potential.
Sylvia is a wife, a mother, a friend, an advocate, and a professional dedicated to making a positive difference. She enjoys reading, cooking, travel, crocheting, writing and public speaking, and time with loved ones.
Image Descriptions:
- Closeup shot of a group of people holding hands together in solidarity.
- Close up of a honeybee collecting pollen from a yellow flower.
- Sylvia is wearing a blue dress with a lighthouse behind her as the sun goes down.