Cook County News Herald

Complementarity means making complete


It is well known in science that Complementarity is the principle by which things work. Matter is made of the complementarity of interrelating Opposites. Plus complements Minus, Positive/Negative, Hot/ Cold, etc. These Opposites join to make a Whole function. But science also tells us that neither Plus nor Minus, Positive nor Negative, Hot nor Cold, etc. lose their individual identity. They complement each other, that is, they complete each other.

Whenever a Plus is separated from its complementary Minus, disaster happens! Whenever Positive destroys its Negative partner, catastrophe ensues. Heat alone kills, as well as Cold alone does. Separation and division cause devastation, polarization, explosion!

The principle of Complementarity is not only a principle in the physical sciences. It is also a principle for the way we humans complement each other, how we complete each other. We are all different. We are all together as Plusses and Minuses, Positives and Negatives, Hot and Cold. We are all in some way opposites, but as opposites we complete our humanness. Separation and division only lead to disaster and tragedy.

Today we see this catastrophic separation evidenced in our political divisions.

As humans we are meant to live together as ‘We the People’. We are to make a whole while always honoring our differences and taking advantage of our individualities. We are to make a union of many without making all one and the same. We are to complement each other. We are to make each other complete!

Jake Hjorth, Grand Marais

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