A good example of this is what has come to be known as Hat Sunday in the quaint rural spot in the Pennsylvania Appalachians known as the Snake Spring Valley. In the early 20th century, the people at the old Dunker church still wore the plain garb as part of their practice of nonconformity. Some, however, were literally chafing under their collars and bonnets for change. The church was getting more involved in the world, sending out missionaries and serving others in the name of Christ. Some questioned whether it was wrong for the young men to wear bow ties and the women to wear hats. Wasn’t this being as legalistic as the Pharisees? But if a woman were to show up wearing a hat one Sunday, she would have been disfellowshipped.

The women solved the garb issue with solidarity. According to the story, early in the 20th century the women decided they’d sink or swim together. As one woman remembered it decades later when she was in her 90s, they arranged ahead of time that one Sunday, they would all wear hats. Though they were afraid, they figured if one got in trouble, they all would.

Well, the pious elders could have shunned one woman, but they couldn’t throw them all out of church! Sharing the burden brought security and success. That little church is still there in the valley, serving God and humanity.

The poet John Donne is famous for having said, “No man is an island, entire of itself.”