Independence

My first thought when I woke up this morning was, "Hey! I know! I'm going to write about independence!" Here in the United States, it's July 4, Independence Day, so hooray for timeliness and appropriateness.

When I think of Independence Day, I think of fireworks, picnics, crowds of happy people (or drunk people, or both) listening to loud music. I think of camping trips or visits to my father's house to go swimming in the summer. I think of the different celebrations I went to with different relatives.

In recent years, I've thought more about the concept of "independence" as a whole. In my work with students with special needs, one of the major areas of focus is on supporting students with the tools and skills they need to increase their ability to be independent, so as it turns out, independence is a fundamental aspect of my day job. However, I find that questions about dependence, independence, and interdependence seep into areas of my personal life, as well. What does it mean to live in a culture where people pride themselves on independence? Does independence have a "dark side"? If so, what is it? What does it mean as a person to live in an independent way? Well, here are a few of my thoughts on that.

When I was in my professional training program in college, I remember a lab in which we were discussing independence. Our teacher said something that lodged itself into my brain and stayed there: independence is the ability to use a variety of different tools, strategies, and techniques to get us where we want to be, and the freedom to choose among them.

Over the past ten years, this definition has floated into my mind from time to time, mostly when I am trying to decide what approach to take with a particular student in instruction. My tendency is to err on the side of increasing independence, to set up the circumstances so that the student has the opportunity to learn and use different tools and strategies, as well as to practice the decision-making and problem solving skills that necessarily go along with them.

It strikes me how much of independence has to do with an internal process of coming to a conclusion and choosing a course of action. This may be etymologically incorrect, but I think of independence as in-dependence: dependence turned inward, or dependence upon oneself. I don't mean this in a kind of "I can do everything on my own" mentality – which I think is one of the dark sides of independence – but as a reliance upon oneself to make reasonable and appropriate decisions, using the strategies available. This process necessarily includes the option to ask someone else for help or to make the conscious decision to rely upon or depend on someone else.

The last thought I have for now about independence is that this definition can be helpful for people who might have a tendency to rely too much on the opinions of others and who have the tendency to self-censor. If one believes he or she is too dependent upon the opinions or ideas of others – real or imagined – new skills can be learned and new choices can be made. We do not have to imprison ourselves in a limited concept of who we are if we do not choose to. Sometimes making the choice to change and be different is a matter of being willing to learn and practice something new. While this can be uncomfortable, I think the long-term benefits are worth the process of learning, experimenting, adjusting, and learning again.