Berry, Wendell -- Essay (1997), “Watershed and Commonwealth,” Citizenship Papers (2003)

Dave — Mon, 23 Feb 2026 20:10:20 +0000

People who live at the lower ends of watersheds cannot be isolationists — or not for long. Pretty soon they will notice that water flows, and that will set them to thinking about the people upstream who either do or do not send down their silt and pollutants and garbage. Thinking about the people upstream out to cause further thinking about the people downstream. Such pondering on the facts of gravity and the fluidity of water shows us that the golden rule speaks to a condition of absolute interdependency and obligation. People who live on rivers — or, in fact, anywhere in a watershed — might rephrase the rule in this way: Do unto those downstream as you would have those upstream do unto you.

Wendell Berry (b. 1934) American farmer, educator, poet, conservationist
Essay (1997), “Watershed and Commonwealth,” Citizenship Papers (2003)
(Source)

See Matthew 7:12.

WIST Quotations

Berry, Wendell -- Essay (1997), “Watershed and Commonwealth,” Citizenship Papers (2003)