John Steinbeck, Connectedness, and Notions of Sustainability

It’s the birthday of John Steinbeck who told us, “A writer out of loneliness is trying to communicate like a distant star sending signals. He isn’t telling or teaching or ordering. Rather he seeks to establish a relationship of meaning, of feeling, of observing. We are lonesome animals. We spend all life trying to be less lonesome.”

This is a good time to reflect upon this biting truth: there are people who get this, i.e., who live their lives trying to connect to other people and empathize with their fellow travelers here on Earth, and those who simply don’t.

This is the notion around which many of our political discussions revolve.  At what level, if at all, do we share a collective responsibility to take care of the people around us, the environment, and the viability of the planet for future generations?  Like Steinbeck’s characterization of humankind generally, it’s a question longing for an answer.