Individualism?

Yes, who decides who gets what, when and why, and how much for how long? These are the proverbial flies in the ointment, aren't they? You see, all this talk about equality and freedom is just fine ... until we get down to the nitty-gritty; that is, when it's about us, individually. We all know how that goes, don't we? Or do we?

The individual has come to play a very significant role in our thinking, not just because most of us tend to be bigger egoists that we like to admit, but because it has been told we're important, special, unique, or whatever all our lives. We somehow feel that everything and everything should be about us ... well, some do, but we all think we need to play a very central role in whatever happens wherever we happen to be.

Americans, in particular, have been brainwashed with the John-Wayne and Rambo individualists. The whole notion of Rugged Individualism was raised to an ideal almost as important, and as unquestioned, as the American Dream. It practically achieved the status of a "given", something we never really even think about anymore. The problem is, it is precisely these "givens" that we should be questioning. There never was such a type, and all that we have left is the hype. Staking out a claim in unknown lands was an act of hubris, not individualism. There were people there before who knew all about that land, but what's mine is mine, and, so the rugged individualist, what's yours is mine. It never really worked, but even if it did, it certainly doesn't work anymore. What is more, the idea of individualism itself is simply incompatible with we're-in-this-all-together, which is what we are slowly coming to realize ... reluctantly, admittedly, but to realize nevertheless.

What we should have realized by now, however, is that we are, and should be uniquely different from those around us. There is no need for a one-size-fits-all anything. It's not individuality – and that's what we're talking about here – that's the problem, it's the individualism. It's just too close to egoism.

As is so often the case, it's the "-isms" that get us in the end.