Recently I have read Atlas Shrugged. As much as it was a mountain to read I managed to take a away a few key concepts that really changed my perspective on how I see the rest of the world. In Atlas Shrugged its begins with all these successful businesses and they are at the height of their power. However, one by one these companies slowly begin to fall off the face of the earth and abandon their companies. The emotional impact of a group of people called “The Looters” had finally taken its toll. The looters would latch on to these successful companies and instead of contributing trickle down responsibility while still trying to make money off the company’s success.
For example, in the book Taggart transcontinental was a very successful railroad company. It was owned by a man named James Taggart but he was often seen as argumentative, indecisive, and very self-concerned. However there was no mistake that it was Dagny Taggart who ran the company she cared not for the idle chatter and politics of the business but rather wanted to see the success born from her hard work.
I think now the world has too many people like James Taggart. A lot of people I feel see things from a smaller picture focusing on themselves. The goal hasn’t become to work hard to build something that will last and be successful for years. It has become more selfish and greedy and to be honest flat out lazy. With all the new technology and how easy life has become in other situations it has affected our lives and what we do wit them. The goal now is to a lot of money by doing the least amount of work possible. That truly creates a problem in our society where life has always been a constant competition. Which person will provide the best service? Now people settle for whatever is easy instead of what is the best for them.
Did you know over 12% of high school graduates do not even try to apply for college? And of that much over 42 percent live with their parents! Some even until the age of 34! This new generation has a huge task facing it. However the argument is that you can make around the same amount of money as someone who does get their college degree. People would rather work a self-depreciating job than go to college and push themselves to be more than they are capable. Now that may not be the case for everyone but 12% is a staggering number.
I think everyone needs to take a step back and focus society as a large. Do you see people pushing themselves to live to your capabilities or are they just trying to do what will get them bye? And if you are just getting bye what do you want to see when you look back 70 years from now? Do you want to look back and say I did what I was asked and made do? Or do you want to look back with pride and say I pushed myself to be better than everyone else? I worked hard and forced success to come to me. This world is better now because of me.
I just see so many people limping and crawling towards the finish line. Nobody wants to be the first to finish with the best time anymore. Everybody just wants to make enough money to make a living. If it was easy then the whole world would run so much smoother. However, look around the world that we do have. Look at those who push themselves for every little thing. I want everyone to watch and see where they go in life. Who goes farther? The person who just did what they asked or the person who wanted to do the best out of everyone.
In the book Atlas Shrugged those who ran these elite companies were known as the Great Minds. These were the people who saw what they had to do themselves and kept pushing. Even when they had reached the top they were not satisfied. To do so would make room for someone else to be better. They wanted to be the best in everything they did. It became a matter of pride. It became I will be better than anyone else. But when that mentality was adopted by many people they built a great deal for society to work with and the great minds would have left a world better than they had found it.
