Have you ever seen a bee collect pollen? It is a seemingly haphazard act that does not last for more than a few seconds or minutes. At the end of the activity, the bee buzzes off to occupy another flower, and neither the bee nor the flower seem particularly affected by the whole act. However, closer examina-tion will reveal that the entire process is actually a carefully designed mutualistic relationship. While the bee acquires food from the flower, the flower receives assistance in pollination. Even though a plant and a bee are vastly different organisms with different needs, they are, in this case, quite dependent on each other.
Dependency is not only limited to bees and flowers. It is, in fact, one of the most important aspects of being human. We are dependent on others even at our very conception – a human life cannot begin without other human beings.
