The western conception that we are each completely separate from one another, unmoved or unaffected by our connections to others, is hogwash. In fact our own fate is intimately tied to that of the persons we care about and, by extention, countless others. We cannot turn our backs on those we might otherwise deem “less than” or whom our culture chooses to all but ignore without condemning ourselves in the process.
Melville knew this. He got it. He spent time on ships that would sail for years at a time with a crew and the single question about any of the hands on the ship was not “what is your race?” or “Where are you from?” Instead, the sole question of import was: “Can you do your job?” This question was all-important because if a single individual couldn’t do his job (and it was usually/always “his” job in those days) the safety of everyone was placed in jeopardy.
Again from Moby Dick: As Queequeg is standing on a whale carcass in the ocean with sharks swarming, tethered to the narrator Ishmael: “The monkey rope was fast at both ends; fast to Queequeg’s broad canvas belt, and fast to my narrow leather one. So that for better or for worse, we two, for the time, were wedded; and should Queequeg sink to rise no more then . . . honour demanded . . . it should drag me down in his wake . . . My dear comrade and twin brother . . . are you not the precious image of each and all of us men?”
“That unsounded ocean you gasp in, is Life.”
Life is not a trial run. It’s not like we’re going to get a better chance to do it right the next time around. So right here and now let’s take in this message of our deep inter-connection to everyone around us.