On this day of celebrating

independence,

I declare interdependence

a new truth to be held self-evident,

all men and women created free,

interdependent on each other;

I declare what defeats and hurts

any human, anywhere,

also defeats and hurts me;

I declare that suppression

in any corner of Earth

suffocates, narrows

the air of the whole planet,

and I declare that one day

the uncontrolled emissions of anguish

from those yearning to breathe free

will vanquish all of us

unless we free ourselves to declare

on this first Day of Interdependence:

“No one is free until all of us are free!”