self-reliance

I’ve been thinking again about self-reliance lately. I like to believe I accomplish things all by myself, but I’ve been keenly aware of how much I rely on the work of others to accomplish the things I do. For example, just to create today’s  strip, I relied upon: (1) collaboration with my co-author Michelle McCauley; (2) the engineers and employees of Wacom, who created the digital tablet I draw on; (3) the creators of Manga Studio, which is the software I use to draw this strip digitally; (4) the people who created  and maintain WordPress, which is the content management system I use on this blog; (4) Frumph, who created the Easel plugin that helps me organize my webcomics and post them in WordPress; (5) the people at AISO.net, which hosts my website; (6) the people at my internet service provider, who maintain my connection to the internet; and, of course, (7) my family, which supports my work on this comic and showers me with ideas, suggestions, and encouragement. And even this list only scratches the surface of all the people whose work and effort make possible the world in which Michelle and I can post this webcomic and reach you, my gentle reader. A vast web of connections makes possible every single deed I do. Under these circumstances, it seems hard to understand what “self-reliance” really is.