SubscribeI think most teachers cringe a little bit when they see that a piece of writing starts with a definition from the dictionary; when it comes to book reports and history essays, it’s an overused technique. If any of you teachers happen to be reading, I hope you’ll forgive me for beginning this way:
self-reliance
– noun
reliance on oneself or one’s own powers, resources, etc.
teamwork
– noun
cooperative effort by the members of a group or team to achieve a common goal.
I’m starting out with these definitions to draw your attention to what is perhaps a contradictory relationship between self-reliance and teamwork. The problem actually exists in the words themselves. ‘Self-reliance’ is about the self, the individual; ‘teamwork’ focuses on the team, the collective. I think most of us would agree, though, that both teamwork and self-reliance are important parts of life. They can even be seen as two very essential parts of preparedness, a topic we’ll be focusing on a lot during September. So how do these apparent opposites work together? The answer to that question can be summed up pretty easily:
Self-reliance is the goal; teamwork is how to get there.
