In our rugged, individualism-obsessed culture, it would be hard to go an entire week without running into someone who extols the virtues of their independence. “No one is going to tell me what to do,” they say; “I’ll do whatever I want, I don’t care what anyone says.”

They don’t usually get a lot of opposition because we all like to think that we are all independent types who will do “our own thing” — who are not threatened by anything anyone else says or thinks. Really?

In a very interesting book titled, “The Righteous Mind: Why Good People are Divided by Politics and Religion,” University of Virginia professor Jonathan Haidt cites many a lab experiment which showed that when push comes to shove most people will do just about anything to preserve their reputations.

“…The most important principle,” he writes, “for designing an ethical society is to make sure that everyone’s reputation is on the line all the time, so that bad behavior will always bring bad consequences.”

Maybe the apostle Paul had something like that in mind in the 12th chapter of his first letter to the Corinthians. Before he gets to the chapter on love that is quoted in most weddings, he writes of how the community of faith — and any community, for that matter — is like a body. Not all of the parts of the body do the same thing, but all the parts are important, and one part does not discount the others. When one part of the body does well, the whole thing celebrates; when one doesn’t feel well, the whole body suffers.

In other words, we are all in this together, and we need each other. We need to support each other when things are going well — which is easy. But we also need to support each other when things are not going well — when someone does something that is not helpful, when relationships break down, when someone’s health falls apart. I have heard from so many people when they are going through an illness or an emotional crisis that they felt the prayers of others lifting them up and encouraging them.

But it is like that for other parts of our lives. We need to hold each other accountable. We need to encourage each other to act responsibly. We need to support those around us when they have to make tough decisions or when they are going through adjustments in life that are excruciating.

We may like to think we are tough-minded individualists who don’t need anyone else, but the truth is we need each other — to keep us from doing the wrong or harmful thing, but also to encourage each other to simply hang in there and do the best we can.

Rev. Dr. Tom Robinson is pastor of Farmville Presbyterian Church. His email address is robin216@embarqmail.com.