![]() ![]() Relatedly, she also speaks at great length on capitalism -she condemns it, unequivocally as an unsustainable, demonstrably destructive system. When I read the quote above, I knew I was dealing with a person who would be unsurprised about our current state of events and glad to be missing them. ![]() “Americans…tend to regard moral behavior as a personal decision, above rules, and often above laws.” The longer we are selfish, she implies, the higher the stakes become. Her recollection points to our culture of individualism and consumerism as a poison that makes us selfish-with one another, even with our future selves, a culture that, if anything, has become even further ingrained. She brings her years of lived experience to bear here, recalling past leaders imploring Americans to go without to support their fellow man in the wake of the World Wars. The “I don’t owe anyone anything crowd may want to skip this one (or read closely with a highlighter and a deep sense of shame). ![]() ![]() The first of these is the idea of human connectedness -specifically individualism versus collectivism. There are a few topics she touches that have particular relevance given our current circumstances (* gestures broadly, sobs* ). Three themes I would call out are deeply related: human connectedness, capitalism, and time. This book is one I come back to, I recommend, and in the last few years, pieces of it have felt relevant to the point of urgency. ![]()
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