CONNECTEDNESS Humans have a fundamental need for contact with other humans. Our interactions and relationships with other people form a network that supports us, makes our lives meaningful, and ultimately enables us to survive. --Human Connectedness Research Group, MIT

CONNECTEDNESS Teachers must turn toward their students and say, in effect, “There are great gaps between us. But no matter how wide and perilous they may be, I am committed to bridging them— not only because you need me to help you on your way, but also because I need your insight and energy to help renew my own life.” --Parker Palmer, contemporary educator and author

CONNECTEDNESS Research Findings: Your personal happiness is not directly affected by the affluence of your community, but it is quite directly affected by the social connectedness of your community. –Harvard University, The Social Capital Community Benchmark Survey

CONNECTEDNESS Years ago I recognized my kinship with all living things, and I made up my mind that I was not one bit better than the meanest on the earth. I said then and I say now, that as long as there is a lower class, I am in it; as long as there is a criminal element, I am of it; as long as there is a soul in prison, I am not free. –Eugene V. Debs, American socialist in the early 20 th century

CONNECTEDNESS A human being is a part of the whole. Our task must be to…widen our circle of compassion to embrace all living creatures and the whole of nature in its beauty. –Albert Einstein