by Emily Wickersham

Created on: August 07, 2011   Last Updated: August 12, 2011

Since the time of the Enlightenment, Western culture has placed a heavy emphasis on individual rights.  That emphasis has improved society in countless ways.  From the abolition of slavery to the right to free speech, people have benefited from the belief that all human beings have the right to pursue individual happiness and to speak their truth as they see it.

For most of subsequent history, that emphasis on the individual was balanced by strong countervailing forces.  Many people spent their entire lives in the place they were born.  They were part of a family, a community and a church that defined their obligations to others and shaped their identities. While sometimes limiting their options, those roles and identities also lent meaning and purpose to their lives and helped them escape the prison of self.

In more recent times, those countervailing forces have broken down, leaving a society in which many of us have forgotten our obligations to others and become imprisoned in a cage of selfishness and loneliness. In pursuit of bigger profits, companies have moved their employees around the country, resulting in a loss of family ties and individual investment in the community. The high divorce rate has destroyed families and left people adrift without their traditional social anchors.  Changing roles for women and the breakdown of traditional ways of life have left everyone a little unsettled, unsure of what their roles and obligations are.

Meanwhile, advertising has glamorized the idea of limitless consumption and personal fulfillment at any cost, to the detriment of more human values.  For many, the result is a life lived on the hedonic treadmill, where each material pleasure satisfies for only a day or an hour before we are chasing something bigger, better, and more expensive. 

In   "Bowling Alone: The Collapse and Revival of American Community," author Robert Putnam cites studies that document the toll this isolation is taking.  Volunteers are harder to come by, and many social organizations have disbanded because of this lack of interest. Participation in the Shriners and the Elks, attendance at church, and even participation in local card games has dropped.  We used to fear and suspect the stranger in the dark alley; now many of us fear our own neighbors. 

Changing this picture is one of the most important things we can do to ensure a better future for our children. The benefits of belonging

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