The Individual

There is a place, deep in our hearts, where we go when we are alone.  It is filled with the memories of our life, both happy and sad.  For some it is filled with dread, and despair, for others it seems to burst with joy and exaltation.  I wonder why that is?

In psychiatry and psychology the doctors and therapists attempt to deal with those issues.  Doctors, through training fall naturally towards a pharmacological solution, and the drug companies are more than happy to formulate a chemical solution to balance the biology of the body.  It is as if all that matters is the PH level is right, or one chemical or another needs to be balanced.

Psychologists, because they can't prescribe drugs, look for alternative ways to resolve the conflict and pain for those who cannot seem to climb out of the darkness.  They can offer strategies, exercises, meditations, or a variety of choices, but at the end of the day it ultimately comes down to the individual.

It comes down to the individual... this is a truth for so many things.  We as individuals can choose our destiny, or we can give it away.  We as individuals can celebrate our lives, and the lives around us, or we can see only the darkness.  We as individuals can shape the world around us, or we can sit back and complain.  We as individuals can see the hopelessness in a quest, or we can set one foot in front of the other and move forward.

In the battle of Britain, the Royal Air Force was vastly overmatched by the German Luftwaffe both in numbers and technology.  Yet the RAF won. How?  Why?  It came down to the individuals who were fighting for their survival, who adapted to the changing world, who overcame the challenges they faced.

Battle of Britain Memorial Flight

By my desk hangs a picture of a Hurricane Mk IIC signed by survivors who flew it in the great air battles over Britain in summer of 1940.  The Spitfire is the glamorous aircraft, but the Hurricane carried the brunt of the battle.  It is there to remind me of the sacrifices made by those who went before me.  In the words of Sir Winston Churchhill "Never in the field of human conflict was so much owed by so many to so few."  These men faced fear and challenges I cannot imagine and stoically carried on.  I wish I had their strength.

As we individuals pursue our lives the question we must answer each day is do I celebrate my life, and strive to make it and the people I affect better, or do I allow the world to shape me so that I sink into despair?  For me this choice is simple, for others it may not be.  It is also the reason I am a fiscal conservative and libratarian.  I don't think larger government can or should make this choice for me.