Here in the U.S. we celebrate Independence Day on the 4th of July to celebrate the signing of the Declaration of Independence, whose most famous line is "We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed ... with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness." (As a Buddhist, I read "men" as sentient being.) I wish we had applied what we learned from being colonized to our relationship with other countries.
But Richard likes to call it "Inter-Dependence Day," which is a reminder of the web of kindness we live in and dependent relationship.
In Eight Steps to Happiness Geshe-la says "'Self' and 'other' are relative terms, rather like 'this mountain' and 'that mountain ... 'This' and 'that' therefore depend upon our point of reference. This is also true of self and other. By climbing down the mountain of self, it is possible to ascend the mountain of other, and thereby cherish others as much as we presently cherish ourself."
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