_______________________________________________JULY 4TH GREETINGS AS WE CELEBRATE THIS COUNTRY'S 250th!CELEBRATING AMERICA'SPAST, PRESENT, AND FUTURE--A DECLARATION OFINTERDEPENDENCE--OF LIVING THE TRUTH THATALL (ANIMAL, VEGETABLE AND MINERAL)ARE CREATED EQUAL ANDARE ENDOWED BY NATURE WITH CERTAININALIENABLE RIGHTS:THAT AMONG GTHESE ARELIFE, LIBERTY, AND THEPURSUIT OF HAPPINESS FORALL LIFE.Carleton and Ellie Stock250 YEARS SINCE ITS FOUNDING, AMERICA NEEDS A DECLARATION OF INTERDEPENDENCE(Excerpts)Words by Barathunde ThurstonINTERDEPENDENCE Is not just an Indigenous principle—it is the LAW OF NATURE, exhibited by ALL LIVING SYSTEMS, and it reflects the fact that RELATIONSHIPS, not isolation, are core to SUSTAINING LIFE. In this age of cascading crises, as we revisit the more complete founding narrative of our nation, living in the TRUTH of our INTERDEPENDENCE may be the most important choice we can make.
INTERDEPENDENCE is a reorientation: from RELATIONSHIPS built on hierarchy and transaction to ones rooted in RECIPROCITY; from governance that concentrates power in the hands of the few to governance that LIBERATES the MANY; from seeing the EARTH as a collection of resources to honoring it as a COMMUNITY OF RELATIONS; from the pursuit of greed to the practice of PEACE.
To shift our systems, we must shift our story. Fortunately, 2026 represents a season rich with narrative possibility. With our shared attention focused on remembering the founding events of 1776, let’s seize this current moment as a refounding one, with principles of INTERDEPENDENCE intact and central. As we’ve learned from the restoration of devastated ecosystems, when done the right way, those systems come back better than ever, faster than expected. I believe the same can be true for our DEMOCRACY.
It is hard to let go of the myth of separation, dominance, and individualistic independence given the culture in which most of us have been raised.
It’s time to recognize that DEMOCRACY in its highest form was not imported from Europe—it was native to this land, rooted in PEACE, EQUALITY, ECOLOGICAL STEWARDSHIP, and BALANCE, and it was willingly shared. This is not a call to replace the founding story. It is a call to expand it—a UNIFYING VISION that makes room for ALL the excluded TO BELONG to the AUTHENTIC STORY of this nation and to the STORY OF LIFE. And this time around, we can grow from We the People, to WE THE LIVING.
Nov 27, 2025 · It’s time to expand the founding story of the US to reflect the forms of democracy that many of this land’s original inhabitants practiced so well, writes Emmy-nominated storyteller
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