Interdependent Self

Mississauga 3 (2013, 6.19), a photo by rchoephoto on Flickr.

To have an interdependent self 

is not to have no self. 

It is to have a different self, 

the possession of which is a joy; 

the loss of which is disabling; 

and the restoration of which 

can be a joy, too. 

Gish Jen, Tiger Writing: Art, Culture, and the Interdependent Self