What does independence mean to you?

...Well... that's what it meant to me as an adolescent!

Interdependence is Best
When I was a high-powered management consultant, Stephen Covey's book "The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People" came out and it was all the rage in our office. We took seminars and workshops and incorporated his lessons in our game plans with our own clients. While I believe that he was simply tapping into universal truths, his package was quite neat and I find that I quote him a lot.

His framework identifies that the three phases of human life are "Dependence", "Independence" and then "Interdependence" As babies, we are completely dependent upon others for survival and our basic needs. As we mature, we need to detach from our dependence, establishing our "independence" by achieving a sense of self-sufficiency. Ultimately, however, "independence" is not the goal, "interdependence" is, where independent entities recognize the larger system in which they operate and the mutually advantageous support that they can provide to one another.

Interdependence is and ought to be as much the ideal of man as self-sufficiency. Man is a social being. Without interrelation with society he cannot realize his oneness with the universe or suppress his egotism. His social interdependence enables him to test his faith and to prove himself on the touchstone of reality.
- Mahatma Gandhi