Community thought in the United States has shifted over the course of the last two generations. There is no grand unifying theme. There is no call to help elevate humanity. There is no spectacular urging that moves us beyond self-interest.
Worse than there being no calling for us to serve, there has been a conscious shift to the elevation of the individual.
It is cloaked in myriad forms. It is called personal responsibility; discussed as a means of improving self confidence; and defended a individual liberty.
All of these modes of thought glorify an individual and set him/her above society. This creeping and increasingly pervasive narcissism is fundamentally at odds with a society's ability to grow.
We seem to lose sight of our neighbors as we focus on ourselves rather than the collective. It has been about, "What can my country do for me"?
Where do we begin the Herculean task of reversing the trend to hyper-individualism?
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