Cooperation: to work together, in
conjunction with; to cooperate
The greatest experience that I have of cooperation in an
on-going way is through music. Every time I sit down with my band and work out
the arrangement to a song, and each time we go into the studio, there is a
great experience of gifted people coming from different areas, whose talents
are expressed on different musical instruments, who come together with their
own ideas, following the vision of one individual (the producer and/or the
writer).
There is commitment to the project - which is to make a good record.
Everyone works on this together, lending the very best of themselves to the
project. At times we go too far. There are things which aren’t working that
need to be cut out. Nonetheless, with communication, commitment and direction,
there is a great, great experience of cooperation. Pretty soon, we’ve got a
record.
My most recent experience of this happened with my friends from
Aspen, the Nitty Gritty Dirt Band. They invited me to participate in their “Let
the Circle Be Unbroken, Volume II” album. We went into the studio in Nashville
at noon. I had heard the song they wanted to do a couple times on tape. They
had heard it and had been working on it that morning.
"And So It Goes"
There were some other musicians there who had not heard the song
before, whom I did not know and had just met that day. Over the course of three
hours, we were able to make a live recording of one of the best country songs I
have heard in a long time. It was a wonderful, wonderful experience. Again,
through communication, commitment, and direction, we were all able to work
together and to create some wonderful music that I look forward to you hearing.
It occurred to me from this experience that really all of the
things that we most enjoy in our relationships with one another are examples of
cooperation - whether in friendship, business, education, the arts, or sports.
Think of the football teams that some of us watch every Saturday and Sunday,
and the different individuals involved coming together to make a team effort.
This is an expression of cooperation.
It seems to me that we want to cooperate, actually and we look
for opportunities to do this. I think of what great opportunities there are now
in the world for cooperation at a level that is unprecedented.
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| 1988 three whales trapped in Arctic ice. |
The saving of two whales this past fall off the coast of Alaska
was a media circus as far as I am concerned. Two things did come out of the
rescue. We actually saved the whales, but more importantly, and in fact, I
think this was ultimately the purpose of the whole exercise , we demonstrated
that it took both the Soviet Union and the United States working together to
accomplish what neither one of us by ourselves could do. [You can read about it
here in this article from 2012: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/art... ]
I look at the incredible outpouring of sympathy and support for
the people of Armenia in the aftermath of the recent earthquake. It is
wonderful to see people from all over the world helping the Soviet Union in
ways that I think are unprecedented.
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| Armenia location |
What this starts to demonstrate again for me is that it is going
to take all of us working together to deal with this kind of tragedy, whenever
and wherever it occurs.
At the same time, it disturbs me that we are not looking at an
ongoing crisis like hunger on this planet - that sees the loss of 35,000
individuals every single day, days without end, and responding in the same kind
of way. We need communication and a worldwide commitment to the end of hunger.
Then under the direction of the experts already in place who are working to
accomplish this end, we can feasibly and cooperatively put an end to hunger on
this planet. Hunger. No more.
We are facing a future where these types of problems are going
to get worse. The way to deal with these problems is only through cooperation.
Consequently, rules and regulations or laws if necessary, need to be met,
communicated and agreed to by people who are committed to living up to working
together.....
.....We also have to think cooperatively beyond our own national
boundaries. Industrial pollution from the United States is creating acid rain -
not only in our forests, but in Canada as well.
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| Acid rain effects on forests |
What does this say about our country’s integrity? Is the
Environmental Protection Agency cooperating with our desire for a safe and
healthy planet? What does it take for us to learn to listen to one another and
work collectively to remedy the problems we currently face?
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| Gorbachev at U.N. |
There is a great opportunity to express our desire for cooperation.
Secretary General Gorbachev, in a speech at the United Nations, gave an
articulate perspective of a world view. What he described in regard to the
environment, economics, space, and the military was an invitation for all of us
to begin working together and cooperating to deal with these global issues.
It is going to take the same kind of effort that is demonstrated
by any football team making a touchdown, or any business completing a
successful campaign. Cooperation is the concerted, strategic effort that was
displayed in freeing the whales from the polar ice, and it is the same kind of
effort that is now occurring globally to help the people of Armenia.
Cooperation is communication,
commitment, and direction. These are the ingredients that will take us
peacefully and progressively into the next century.
-John Denver
Windstar Journal - Winter 1988
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