The front page of Post 41 said for April, "America is the land of hope.  With effort , all things are possible."  So simple.  So true.  So hard.  Why hard?  Because it gets lost so easily.  Alexander the Great conquered what was for him the known world.  He did it without smart bombs, without computers, without automobiles, without electricity.  What have you done with your life?  Think about that for a moment. See?  It gets lost.

So how to find it again?  This may seem strange, but I think the answer is selfish individualism.  (No, I am not an Objectivist.)  I know some will say that I'm being a pig or arrogant or some such for advocating selfishness.  But I do not advocate self-centeredness or narcissism.  I know, I know, selfishness means concern only for oneself at the expense of others, and that's not really what I mean either, but I know no other word for it.  Egoism perhaps, but that word is not much better.  By selfishness I mean finding your own motivation, seeking your own happiness, doing the things that deep in your heart you really want to do.  So much is lost in life because we do not do the things we really want to do.

Do not misunderstand.  I do not advocate apathy towards others or a renouncing of charity.  Quite the opposite.  Take the 'golden rule': do unto others as you would have them do unto you.  Consider that statement a moment.  Not the connotations and/or interpretations that have been latched onto it over the centuries, just the concept itself.  Do unto others as you would have them do unto you.  How would you have others do unto you?  Do you want people to treat you with respect?  Do you want people to talk about you behind your back?  Do you want people to be honest with you? Do you want people to give you help when you are in trouble?  'Do unto others as you would have others do unto you' is the height of the kind of selfishness I'm talking about.  Before it can work, you must first want the best treatment for yourself.

Consider another, similar saying:  love your neighbor as yourself.  Notice the word between 'neighbor' and 'yourself' is not 'more than' but 'as'.  Love your neighbor as yourself.  How much do you love yourself?  No, not how happy are you with yourself or your appearance or your possessions or your current station in life.  How much do you love yourself?  If you don't know, then perhaps you should take time to find out.  And please note, I am not talking about narcissism.  Self-obsession is not the same thing as loving yourself.  How can you love your neighbor as yourself if you do not first love yourself?

So how does that translate into "With effort, all things are possible"?  Well, what do you want to accomplish?  Are you willing to dedicate yourself to that task?  Are you willing to do the tedious work to get to the goal at the end?  This is where the selfishness comes in. The question is not, 'how afraid are you that you might fail?' but 'how much do you desire the end result?'  Are you willing to work for your own happiness?

And so, I have said all that to come to this: Individualism.  Individualism brought strength to this country, to the United States of America.  No, I don't say solely individualism is responsible, but it played a major part, and it seems to be something many people are not only willing to sacrifice but to preach against.

E Pluribus Unum.  Out of Many, One.  Individuals creating a greater whole, not through uniformity or  conformity, but through the tolerance and respect for the individual.  As Victor at the Three Dead Horses Saloon has pointed out, the individual is the smallest minority.

As before, some will likely think I am advocating a callous self-centeredness by advocating individualism.  I am not.  By individualism I mean not individual isolationism, but rather individual responsibility.  And by individual responsibility I mean taking responsibility for your own life and your own mistakes and your failures and your own successes rather than insisting that someone else or a corporation or a government should take up the responsibility.  Too much in the United States of America people insist that the government needs to "fix" welfare programs and Social Security and health care, et cetera, and by 'fix' they mean spend more money.  Too much in this country people will sue rather than take responsibility for their own actions.  Get burned because you spilled the hot coffee you just bought? Sue the people who sold you the coffee. Get fat eating too much fast food? Sue the fast food companies. Get lung cancer from smoking tobacco products all your life even though all your life you've been told smoking is bad for you? Sue the tobacco companies.  But never, never, never take responsibility for yourself.  (Yes, that was sarcasm.)

By individualism I mean not arrogance, but rather a willingness and a desire to be true to oneself.  Shakespeare's Polonius said, "This above all: to thine own self be true, and it must follow, as the night the day, thou canst not then be false to any man."  I believe that.  Conformity is promoted in this country far too much.  No, I don't mean Coca-Cola or Nike commercials. I mean Jesse Jackson insisting that Greenville, South Carolina, must have an official Martin Luther King holiday.  I mean schools eliminating dodgeball from school grounds supposedly because it promotes aggressive behavior.  I mean Harry Belafonte comparing Colin Powell to a "house slave".  I mean the promotion of the idea that while the war against Iraq was happening all anti-war opinions should kept silent.  I mean text book publishers being pressured from the left and right ends of the political spectrum to eliminate and/or change anything that might offend someone, anyone anywhere.  Conformity is not being true to oneself.  Conformity is the denial of oneself and uncritical submission to others.

By individualism I mean not anarchy or a rejection of all rules, but rather a respect for the individual.  Whom does the Constitution, the Bill of Rights protect? Whom does "Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech," protect but individuals?  What is "We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness" about if not the rights of the individual?

Martin Luther King, Jr., had a dream.  His dream was an end of racial segregation and prejudice.  He spoke of being free one day.  He said, "This will be the day when all of God's children will be able to sing with a new meaning, 'My country, 'tis of thee, sweet land of liberty, of thee I sing. Land where my fathers died, land of the pilgrim's pride, from every mountainside, let freedom ring.'"  He spoke on behalf of a group that day in 1963.  Yet how can there be a nation where people "will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character" if individualism is not highly valued?  How can there be freedom for all if there is not freedom for the individual?

The freedom of individuals is the freedom of the masses.  The excellence of individuals is the excellence of the masses.  Promotion of individual responsibility is the promotion of the responsibility of the masses.  These are reasons why, I think, that many people speak of individualism in derogatory terms.  Controlling a group willing to conform is easier than controlling self-assured individuals.  When an individual excels, he shames those content to be mediocre.  And individual responsibility minimizes the opportunity to blame others for one's own mistakes and failures.  Individual freedom, individual excellence, individual responsibility require one to deal with one's shortcomings, one's failures and one's choices.

Just to be clear, I am not saying people should not form groups or that there is no responsibility toward society.  The responsibility toward society is to be a responsible individual.  "Love your neighbor as yourself."  "To thine own self be true, [...] thou canst not then be false to any man."  Be responsible for yourself, then you will be responsible toward your neighbors.

Freedom for all must be freedom for all individuals.  But for that freedom to be respected, the individual must be respected.  "Do unto others as you would have them do unto you."  Be selfish.  Love yourself.  Be an individual.  And then treat others the way you want to be treated.

(This selfish individualism may not seem like one of the realistic characteristics listed on Post 41's April front page.  And I guess it really isn't.  I am, however, a big picture guy.   Individualism is something I feel strongly about, and something I believe that gets to the root of many other problems like government or privacy issues or education. And so I've broken the rules, addressing the issue in my own way.  Selfish individualism at work.)