Mississippi National Guard rescuing many residents in the flooded areas of Moss Point, Mississippi following the 2012 devastation of Hurricane Isaac. Photo by The National Guard.
While temperance teaches us to see the reality that each man is capable of colossal self-sufficiency, it also reveals to us that we are contingent beings.
The fact that we are dependent upon others helps, not hinders, our full development. Hence, the same person who develops admirable habits of self-reliance also takes the initiative to evaluate his own insufficiencies and has the courage to seek out the aid of others. It is this acknowledgment of dependency that binds us together in community and makes trade necessary.
John Horvat, Return to Order: From a Frenzied Economy to an Organic Christian Society—Where We’ve Been, How We Got Here, and Where We Need to Go (York, Penn.: York Press, 2013), 285.
