Don't Go It Alone

Aristotle said that in order for people to become virtuous, we need role models—others who have developed their capacities for courage, self-control, wisdom, and justice. We may emphasize different sets of virtues or ideas about what makes a proper role model, but ... as we are all connected and interdependent, none of us can do it all on our own.

Acknowledging this dependency is the first step of real emotional work within relationships. Our ambivalence about our own needs and dependency gets stirred up in all kinds of relationships. We cannot escape our feelings and needs and desires if we are going to be in relationships with others. To be in relationships is to feel our vulnerability in relation to other people who are unpredictable, and in circumstances that are intrinsically uncontrollable and unreliable. - Barry Magid, "No Gain," Tricycle Summer 2008

And so it goes. Who wants to be vulnerable? Who wants to deal with unpredictability? Who wants to be needy? Surely not me. And probably not many of you. But this is the stuff of relationships. And we were made for it. I wish us all good luck.   Trudy