I’m on the side of the Stoics with regard to a number of issues…but one of them stands out:  I agree with them that human beings are social creatures.  It is in their nature to form communities.

     With the exception of hermits and mystics on mountaintops, people need people.  As for the mystics and hermits, let me just say, there’s a reason why these people always appear to be filthy and crazy – people who deny that they need people still need people.  Just my opinion, you understand.

     But our communities are not hives or ant hills, where each individual is merely a uniform role filled by a genetically-tailored-role-filler working for the good of the collective alone.

     People are individuals, and people need to maintain their individuality.  It is in our nature to think our own thoughts, do our own thing, pursue our own well-being…

     …except part of our well-being is being part of a healthy community.

     So there is always tension, in any community, between communalism and individualism.

     A healthy community is necessary for the well-being of the individual members of the community.  Healthy individuals are necessary for the well-being of the community.

     Healthy individuals are best achieved, I believe, when their rights to define and pursue their own well-being are supported by their communities.  Individuals who value material wealth and pursue it with hard work, determination and useful results should make more money.  Smart, talented, educated people who earnestly pursue knowledge and wisdom in a disciplined way should be given respect and listened to.  And yes, even talented, well-disciplined athletes should reap the rewards of their efforts.  After all, people from these groups do a lot to further the condition of everyone.  Businessmen provide jobs and services that the community needs, researchers create new technologies, medications, insights and materials that enhance our lives.  Athletes provide inspiration, and an illustration of just what we can get our bodies to do if we maintain them in a healthy and optimal state…not to mention that entertainment is also of value to us.

     It’s not in the best interest of a community to punish an individual or excessively burden them for their success.  Likewise, it’s not in the best interest of a community to encourage sloth or ignorance or failure.  The health and success of individuals is important to a community.

     On the other hand…it is not in the best interest of the community to allow individuals to use unfair or predatory competitive tactics to over-blow their success beyond the value that they provide.  It is not in the best interest of a community to callously disregard the needs of it’s more vulnerable and unfortunate citizens.

     The cult of individualism has gotten a little bit out of hand, in my opinion.  While I respect the spirit of individualism, I think we need to have a little swing of the pendulum back to some more community-oriented values.  In particular, I think it’s important for people who have gotten to the top of the ladder due to their individual effort and talent, to acknowledge that they also owe something to the ladder.  Beyond that, it is important for us all to be mindful that wherever we are on that ladder, we’re coming down if it falls apart.

     I’ve got a couple of anecdotes for you that might illustrate my point.  They should in no way be considered conclusive proof of anything.  They are not.  They are illustrations, not action photographs…if you get the analogy.

     The first is a guy who was CEO of a company here in the Twin Cities area.  I have a friend who works for this company, and has both first and second hand knowledge of what went on.

     The CEO of this large company was recently discovered to have been sleeping with the wife of the CEO of a client company.  Huge rolling cloudbanks of shit-storminess ensued.  Everyone in the company has been caused disruption, stress, extra work, and job insecurity due to the loss of the biggest client, a loss of face in the community, and the sudden departure of their CEO.  The ripples will no doubt continue to roll outward for quite a while, and I would not be surprised to see the company have to do lay-offs and other drastic measures to control the damage caused by this indiscretion.  As it is, my friend, who has a family, is working outrageous hours under incredible stress.  She comes home late, completely without time of energy to do the sorts of things that parents want and need to do for their children.  I doubt very much if she is the only one.

     I think this is a classic example of what happens when someone loses perspective with their sense of “individualism”.  Clearly, this person got the “With great power comes great privilege” thing.  Exceptional people get more money, more consideration, more social latitude than the rest of us…and to a certain extent, this is warranted.  Lets face it, the more there is riding on your decisions and actions, the more shades of grey you have to be able to see….the more nuanced you have to be…the more you have to be able to discern between the greatest good or the greatest harm…so we make allowances.

     Where this person fell down was the whole “with great power comes great responsibility” flip side of the coin.  This person apparently thought that because he was a rich, powerful boss-man, he could do whatever he wanted to, because the regular rules did not apply to him.  But it is very unlikely that he ever gave a second thought to the lives of all the people he would be affecting if he didn’t keep his “great leaping Marlin” (as he called his penis in e-mails) zipped up tight where it belonged...or at least away from the wives of important clients.

     Beyond that, this guy was invited to speak at a conference on National Security.  He is obviously a mover-and-shaker.  He was there to help make us all safer and keep our country running as it ought to in these perilous times…or at least that was what he was supposed to be doing.  While on stage at this conference, he was Blackberrying with his mistress.  National Security, “leaping Marlin” style.  I think we want another kind of attention to detail when we are talking about the security of our country, and the focus of our tax dollars.

     I think that we as a society do have a right to set reasonable limits to private behavior that has a demonstrable public impact.  I think the Enron  and WorldCom, et.al people have to answer to us for what they did to our economy.  I think that Tom DeLay has to answer to the public for the charges that he has amassed over the past few years.  I think that serious questions should be asked about price gouging and false shortages in the energy and oil and gas industries.  I think we deserve an explanation and a justification for some of the prices and events of the past few years.

     This sort of argument is dangerous, no doubt.  We’ve seen all sorts of specious arguments about how the private “morality” of individuals affects our society negatively.  It’s not something to throw around lightly, but it cannot be totally ignored either.

     Of course, what would be the very best is if people showed some core of ethics and integrity…some inner strength and resolve to stick to a set of rules that allows them to profit honestly.  When they can’t however, and they do tangible, measurable, sizable damage to our society, we have a right to hold them accountable.

     Now for my second anecdote;  a friend of mine recently told me a story of a woman he knows who is a single mom.  She has a mental illness.  She is Bipolar.  When she has medication, she is very functional.  For quite a while, she worked in an autoshop, and did very well.  She didn’t make a lot of money, but made enough to support herself and her child.  The only thing she couldn’t afford was health care, so she got assistance that covered her…including the medication she needed to control her mental illness.

     She was paying her own rent, feeding and clothing herself and her child, doing all of the independent, upright living stuff that we as an individualistic society respects so much.  In fact, she was functioning so well, that she got a promotion.  With the promotion came a modest raise.  Enough of a raise to disqualify her from getting health care coverage, but not enough to actually cover the cost of her medications.  She couldn’t afford them, so she stopped taking them.  She got symptomatic again, and could not hold her job.  She got fired.

     So guess what?  We’re most likely goning to be picking up the tab for EVERYTHING now.  We didn’t want to spend a small amount of money to keep this woman functioning…so now we are paying even more to have her not function.

     Of course, some people would like to cut her off of all assistance entirely.  Because having unmedicated crazy people is one thing, but isn’t it so much better to have unmedicated crazy people wandering the streets hungry, cold and looking for someone to take their aggression out on?

     Is the idea of “independence” really served by this sort of thing?

     There is a constant need for give-and-take on these issues.  The balance between individual rights and responsibilities, and community values will never be “solved”.  There is no ideological imperative that is “the” answer to the question of where the line should be drawn on a particular issue...because the conditions are always changing.

     One thing I know for sure, is that there are very few people in leadership positions that I trust to adequately comprehend and seriously address these issues…and the few that remain are under constant attack and their efforts are frustrated by hostile ideologues who have no interest in solutions…only agendas.