INDIVIDUAL ACHIEVEMENT
This leads us to the fourth area where anti-hero philosophies have created this idea of the “autonomous individual” that demands rights, but accepts no responsibilities. You don’t have to read much of the daily newspaper to find some group protesting about their rights. I am a major supporter of the Bill of Rights, I only wish there was a corresponding Bill of Responsibilities.
Dr. Karl Menninger states that one of the principal reasons for the rapid rise in mental illnesses in our society is the decline in a sense of individual responsibility and personal worth – a feeling of helplessness and lack of direction. He argues, “people have always learned more from their mistakes than from their success; but when the ‘price’ of mistakes is eliminated, the result is confusion and a loss of motivation to do better.”
The anti-hero will tell you “It wasn’t your fault!” “Demand your rights!” and “Find someone to blame!” I believe that the number one reason why people fail in America is a lack of accepting personal responsibility. The world at large is crying out for people-centered leaders who will accept responsibility in their families, churches, communities, and careers. Jim Black in his excellent book “When Nations Die” quoted an article by Michael Lerner in the February 1994 journal “Tikkun”:
“Reacting against the selfishness and materialism that are sanctified by the competitive market – and that undermine our ability to sustain loving relationships – people hunger for communities of meaning that provide ethical and spiritual purpose. They are offered instead a myriad of nationalistic, religious or racial pseudo-communities that never challenge the ‘look out for #1’ mentality of the market. So people soon find that their daily lives are just as empty as ever.”
The problem with this “individual against the world” perspective is that people were made for communion with others. People are happiest when part of a community where they can grow and thrive. In his book “Seven Habits of Highly Effective People,” Stephen Covey said that the proper development of an individual would lead from dependence to independence to interdependence. Independent people freely choose to rely on other independent people to make an interdependent community. Most people in today’s anti-heroic culture never arrive at this interdependent level. They still believe that happiness can be purchased. As interpersonal communities break down, our dependence on things increase, and our highly commercial culture is only too happy to encourage these bad habits.
Jim Black said, “For most of our history, Americans placed greater stock in a man’s character than in his possession. The American Dream held that, by hard work and self-discipline we could achieve success. And success was not measured in material possessions alone…The common wisdom of the day taught that greed, luxury, and self-indulgence were the passions of weak character. And the frugal nature of the pioneers taught that the treasures to be valued most were the virtues of honesty, good character, and moral strength.”
Where the heroic defines people by who they are, the anti-heroic defines people by what they have. Some of my heroes are not yet wealthy, from a material point of view. They are however, facing their fears, growing and changing to become the people they were meant to become. Then, they will have.
I believe that in true success, character development must come first. Stephen Covey said, “Internal victories precede external victories.” I am astounded by how many people think they can handle success without changing at all. In all my years of corporate and business life I have never met a truly successful person that wasn’t growing and changing daily. The greatest leaders put their personal development high on their list of priorities. Your personal development allows you to serve your team better by developing better attitudes, skills, and character. Henry Link said:
“The issue here is of selfishness or unselfishness. Is the individual to be governed by the principle of what he likes, or what other people like; what he considers desirable or what others consider desirable? If he allows himself to be governed by the former and does always the things which will please him, his personality will shrink, his range of friendships will narrow, his likes will decrease while his fears and dislikes will increase; whereas the person who acts on the principle of what will help or please others, even to the extent of undertaking activities which he dislikes or finds awkward, will develop new skills and in time even convert his aversions into enjoyment. The growth of a personality and the growth of a person’s range of interest, skills and pleasures, are one and the same thing…Personality and its rewards are a by-product of converting one’s energies into habits and skills which interest and serve other people.”
So many Americans today are too wrapped up in their own goals and dreams to take the time to serve others. The interesting thing, as Henry Link stated (and I affirm through my experience) is that “the more you give, the more you get.” If we are going to stem the tide of the anti-heroic culture, we as individuals must make the first step. We must reject the lies of egalitarianism, socialism, and radical individualism.
Chuck Colson writes, “Societies are tragically vulnerable when the men and women who compose them lack character. A nation or a culture cannot endure for long unless it is under girded by common values such as valor, public-spiritedness, and respect for other and for the law; it cannot stand unless it is populated by people who will act on motives superior to their own immediate interest.”
The anti-hero does not like talk of a better life or of making a difference in other people’s lives. George Roche writes, “The anti-hero, shrunken in the misery and guilt of his dissimulations, must perforce cast us all in his own image and try to bring us down to his own level. He must jeer at the hope of a better life. He must denigrate mind and morality to make bearable his own intellectual and spiritual barrenness. ……There is a better life, and it is free for the asking. The value of a life well lived can only be denied, never diminished, by the anti-hero. It is still there, that satisfaction of a good life that we so hunger for now. It can be and still is claimed, as ever, by those who will have it, and in the teeth of adversity.”
As I ponder our culture today and its virtual hatred of heroes, I see seven things we can do to make a difference:
1. Encourage and edify anyone doing heroic work
2. Find a mentor to challenge you to grow
3. Start a personal development program
4. Join a community of like-minded individuals
5. Learn about free enterprise and start your own business
6. Learn the foundational Judeo-Christian principles of our nation
7. Accept responsibility to teach all of the above to everyone you can
