Another mother stands with her baby in the picture above. In even a brief encounter with anyone whose heart is broken or on the verge of breaking we can gain much insight into the human condition—so much suffering, yet the possibility of joy and the presence of hope. It is up to us, the caring community, to bring hope, warmth, and unconditional love.

In our work we meet many suffering, lost, abandoned children and adults. When we look back at our own lives, we can discern a winding road that we have taken based on our shared and evolving beliefs and values. Each person’s community of caring needs to assure that companionship and community-making are essential in any and all interventions, programs, and supports. The community needs to understand that an individual’s growth and development is directly related to his/her connectedness with others. It also calls for a move away from independence and toward interdependence. Most modern supportive systems have been founded on the industrialized world’s cultural call for individualism—a sense that each must stand on his/her own and the peak of human development is independence. While independence is seen as a moral good, it does not have primary value. Without denigrating its secondary role in human development, independence must be seen as emerging out of human interdependence.