Get it together

OK, now that I have all that off my chest, maybe I can get back to just wondering there are so many things that just make me wonder.

It is obvious to me that there are just some things that you can't do alone. Since such a big deal was made of this "building businesses" thing, it seems like fair game as an example. Aside from any political ideology, unless you are (a) a sole proprietor with no employees OR (b) a limited liability corporation with no employees AND (c) you contract out NO work, then, OK, whatever your business is, I agree, you built it. Yes, there are a whole lot of small businesses - microbusinesses - out there, but if there's more than one of you, you didn't do it all by yourself. You might have had the idea, you might have even decided which way to go, but you had help with the actual building of the business, because all such businesses must run or they can't be built at all.

My question is, what's wrong with that? Why is it such an insult to simply say, I had help. Does that make one less of a business person? I can't begin to imaging why? Does it make one dumber than other business people? I'd say know, for it is the intelligent person who knows what s/he can and can't do and who might be the best person to lend a hand. So, if there is no real problem here, what is the problem?

It's this inability to put my finger on the cause that frustrates me. If it's not a business issue, and since it shouldn't be a social issue (that's how organizations are supposed to function), it must, then, be a personal issue. There must be something in the American psyche (and I have to restrict this a bit, because I have been asked by more than one neighbor what this whole thing is about).

Personally, I don't think it's only an American thing, but Americans may be better at it than others. The problem, I believe, is simple egoism. Again, too much me, not enough we. I have always been amazed that pitchers win baseball games, even though there are eight other players on the field with them; and quarterbacks are responsible for football wins, though they call upon more than 30 other players (when you consider the rest of the offense, the defense and special teams) to win ... well, to even play the game.

I think it's kind of sad, though, because it not only ignores a lot of valuable contributions, in a way, it also denigrates those who aren't the star. But, without them - the non-stars - nothing would happen at all.